Avenging Normandy
by lyokoMARVELanime
Summary: The Normandy was lost along with Shepard, but Cerberus was more than happy to try and bring him back. You think you know this story, but what if Cerberus failed to revive Shepard? What if they needed to turn to another one of humanity's greatest heroes to fill his role? Find out what happens when Captain America becomes the new CO of the Normandy
1. Resurrection

_**AN: Okay, I know, you Gundam SEED Prime series fans are thinking I'm lousy for starting yet another new project instead of updating Chaos Hunters, but in all honesty, I can't help myself. This idea has been bouncing around in my mind for months now, and I just had to put it out there. And speaking of this idea, I can't help but notice that every story I've either posted or updated recently has some form of connection to MARVEL or just Captain America. If this keeps up, then clearly I'm going to be setting a theme for myself this year on the work I do with my stories. Just one thing though, I haven't been as great a fan of Mass Effect as I would like to be for very long now, so if any of this seems lacking, please try to go easy on me because of both that, and because this is the first Mass Effect story that I've ever written. Now with that said, I'll let you get to it.**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Resurrection**

There was something about gazing at the burning surface of a star and its brilliant fires of chaos within tranquility that the individual known only to most as the Illusive Man found captivating, which would easily explain why he often had the monitor in the large, empty room that served as his office displaying an image of one such star. It often seemed to give him a reminder of the actions he would have his organization, Cerberus take in order to further humanity's progression to being one of the strongest powers in the galaxy, while also allowing him a soothing image to help him clear his mind when he needed to think clearly about something, usually involving what their next move would be in ensuring that humanity did not lose even the slightest bit of ground in their stance with the Citadel Council or races. Yet for all of his actions, decisions, influence, and connections, the Illusive Man found that he was not able to provide humanity with half as much as one man now had. The man known to many as the first human Spectre and savior of the Citadel: Commander John Shepard.

In the words of the Illusive Man's most trusted operative, Shepard had done everything right, ever since he had become the first human Spectre. Right from the moment when he was made a Spectre, all throughout his hunt for the rogue Spectre agent, Saren, and even when he saved the Council, nearly every move that the commander had made had benefited humanity in the long run, and as a result, he had become an icon, and yet it was still not enough. Shepard had practically shouted out how everyone was ignoring the very real threat of the Reapers, but people still chose to believe the Reaper known as Sovereign was just a highly advanced Geth ship that Saren used to deceive the synthetics into helping him with his plans. As a result, Shepard and his crew of the _SSV Normandy SR1_ were sent out to hunt the Geth down as soon as the crisis on the Citadel that resulted from Sovereign's attack was over, claiming that the former servants of the Quarians were the real culprits. That had been what had caused things to begin going downhill.

The _Normandy_ had been patrolling a sector of space where a number of ships had gone missing in the past month when they were suddenly attacked by a large, unknown cruiser-class ship. What followed could easily be considered the most one-sided battle anyone had ever seen, as the cruiser easily tore apart the _Normandy_ 's shields and armor, causing many good Alliance soldiers to lose their lives, while forcing the rest to rush for the escape pods as soon as Shepard had ordered everyone to evacuate. The only person who had been left after everyone else had gotten clear of the severely damaged ship aside from the commander was the _Normandy_ 's pilot, Jeff "Joker" Moreau, and Shepard had refused to leave anyone behind if there was something he could do. Shepard had managed to get the pilot safely onto the last escape pod, but unfortunately, it had been at the cost of his life.

Knowing that the Council would be more likely to follow him than anyone else, and that losing Shepard would likely be the beginning of losing humanity, the Illusive Man immediately commissioned the Lazarus Project to ensure that they did not lose the commander the minute that Cerberus had recovered his lifeless body, placing his most trusted operative, Miranda Lawson in charge of the project as an extra bit of insurance for its success. Things seemed to be going well for the project, which was to be expected since Miranda was running it, but then one day, almost a year after Shepard had been reported dead and Cerberus had begun their efforts to bring him back, Miranda had contacted the Illusive Man with terrible news. The Lazarus Project had failed, and they lost Shepard.

It honestly baffled the Illusive Man as to how the project had failed, and the notes he received did not help it to make any more sense. Every analysis that had been made on Shepard over the past few months indicated that the commander would fully recover eventually, and yet one day, everything started going into the red zone, until they lost Shepard completely. It was almost as though someone had done something to ensure that Commander Shepard would never live again, but everyone on the station and that worked on the project were all trusted members of Cerberus, so there was very little possibility of a betrayal on that front. Then again, it could mean that Liara T'Soni had deceived them as well when she sent Shepard's body to them, but that scenario was completely unlikely, given the relationship that the Asari had with Shepard, so the Illusive Man found himself faced with a very great mystery, and he hated not knowing everything about something, especially when it came to something that happened in his organization.

The Illusive Man was once again looking through the notes on Shepard's condition up to the point where they had lost him, hoping to find something, anything that would explain why they had lost him, when Miranda Lawson came into the room. "Sir, first off, I'd like to apologize once again for the failure of the Lazarus Project," Miranda stated with a somber look that seemed rather out of place on the young, beautiful woman.

"No apologies necessary, Miss Lawson," the Illusive Man easily replied. "Not unless you have news that tells me how it happened."

"I'm afraid not," Miranda said. "I've looked over everything numerous times, and I've come back with nothing. The only thing that would indicate that there would have been a problem would be when the shuttle that we used to transport Shepard's body from Doctor T'Soni's care to the station was stopped by unforeseen circumstances, but it was written off as being an attack by random pirates."

The Illusive Man sighed in response to this, partially because Miranda had managed to find something more than he had, and partially because it was not much more, and he then took a small drag from his most recently lit cigarette and asked, "Do you have any good news to report, Operative Lawson, because I could really use some right now."

Miranda knew that she was likely in hot water when she heard her boss refer to her by her title in Cerberus instead of as "Miss Lawson", but she stood her ground nonetheless, giving off her usual confident, collected air as she revealed the one piece of good news that she did have. "There is one thing. The project can still succeed with another subject. One who may be just as good, if not better than Shepard."

Now the Illusive Man was intrigued, and he immediately put his full attention on Miranda and ordered, "Explain."

"Shepard's not the only hero in human history, and we happen to possess the capabilities to bring one its greatest heroes back," Miranda stated. "And I mean all the capabilities and requirements, because we just recovered his body from where it had been secretly laid to rest almost a century ago."

"You don't mean…" the Illusive Man started to ask.

"Yes," Miranda nodded. "I ran the DNA analysis myself. We've found Steven Rogers, better known to human history as the first Avenger, Captain America."

The Illusive Man just stared at Miranda, in what she could only assume was the closest thing to awe she had ever seen from him, before he finally sat back in his chair and took another drag from his cigarette and turned his possibly prosthetic, steely blue eyes on her. "That changes everything. Are you certain that the project will have better results with Captain America than it did with Shepard?"

"Absolutely," Miranda nodded. "The damage to the captain's body is not nearly as great as that of Shepard's, and from what I can tell, we will only need to make a few adjustments to his genetic makeup in order to keep all the harmful and adverse effects of the Super Soldier Serum from ever showing themselves. I'd say the chances of succeeding with Captain America are even greater than the odds were for Commander Shepard."

"Then start repurposing the Lazarus Project at once," the Illusive Man ordered. "And Miranda, this may be ours and your last chance, so we can't afford to allow this to fail."

Miranda nodded in understanding, and then slowly turned on her heel to leave the base and return to the station that housed the Lazarus Project. In all honesty, Miranda did not believe the not-so-subtle threat from the Illusive Man was necessary, as she was already intending to make sure that they would succeed with Captain America where they had failed with Commander Shepard, but she could understand her boss's reasoning for giving such a threat. Still, she would make sure she would succeed, not because she was afraid of what would happen to her personally if she failed or really if she failed period, but because she was determined she would not fail at this a second time.

* * *

He had done a lot of good in his quite unexpectedly long life, saved a lot of lives, made a great many sacrifices, and saved the world on multiple occasions, so one could easily understand why Steve Rogers thought that it was time for him to hang up his shield and be laid to rest when it was discovered that the Super Soldier Serum had a genetic degrading side effect that was slowly killing him, and Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man, was somewhat happy to oblige and allowed his friend to be laid to rest in the same arctic seas that he had ended his last mission in World War II in. He was happy to leave the shield and the legacy to Sam Wilson, alias the Falcon, so Steve honestly had to wonder why, after spending what felt like a very brief time, he was suddenly beginning to wake up feeling stronger than ever.

He was only vaguely aware of his surroundings, but from what he could tell, he was in some sort of lab, and his first thoughts was that it was one of HYDRA's or another group's like AIM or even Doctor Doom's, but the white walls around him and lack of any sign that would indicate that any the lab belonged to any of those groups quickly disproved that theory. The next thing he took note of was the muffled sound of a pair of voices, a man and a woman's to be exact, but he could not really make out much of what the two were saying at first, at least until his vision started coming back to him, albeit a bit blurry.

"Damn it, Wilson, he's not ready yet! Give him the sedative," the woman's voice said, which Steve noted held a slight, Australian accent to it, and Steve looked to the source to find his blurry gaze met by a woman in a mostly white and black outfit with fair skin, long dark hair that reached her shoulders with a few strands hanging over the front of her shoulders, and grayish blue eyes. When the woman realized his attention was on her, she immediately looked towards him and grabbed his arm soothingly as she said, "Captain, don't try to move. Just lie still and try to stay calm."

Steve was not able to hear much more after that aside from his own breathing, and a moment later, his world went dark again after he heard the woman order for another dose of the sedative she mentioned a moment ago. He was not sure how long he had been out after that, but it must have been some time, because when he next woke up, it was to the sound of explosions ringing throughout the facility, and after sitting up, he looked out a nearby window to see that a few fires were springing up as flashes of weapons fire streaked through the air, all while the woman he saw earlier spoke to him over what he assumed was an intercom.

 _"Captain, can you hear me,"_ the woman called out. _"Please, I know you're just fully waking up after a very long rest, but I need you to get out of that bed and get moving. This facility is under attack! There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room along with your shield and a modified version of your old suit. Hurry!"_

Steve did not need any more prompting than that, and he immediately climbed out of the bed and headed for what he assumed was the locker that the woman had indicated. The second he had made it to the locker, he reached in and pulled out what seemed to be his old uniform from his last few days with the Avengers, and overall, it seemed to be the same as it had been before, right down to the silver and red Avengers logo on either shoulder, but he could tell that a new belt had been added to it, along with a few modifications to the harness that was used to hold his shield on the back. Deciding to not worry about it at the moment, Steve just quickly changed out of the civilian attire he had currently been wearing and slipped into his uniform before reaching into the locker and pulling out his old, red, white, and blue vibranium shield and strapping it onto his arm. The last things he took from the locker was what he assumed was a communication device and a strange, futuristic-looking pistol, which he noted was a bit folded up until it was in his hand. Deciding that he had everything he would need, he quickly turned and made for the doorway out.

He only paused for a second to look around to make sure the area was clear before he slowly moved on and decided that he would try to get some answers from the woman on the other end of the radio, and called out, "I don't think I got your name, Miss…"

 _"Lawson. Miranda Lawson, and I'd much rather you'd focus on getting out of there and to the shuttle bay, Captain,"_ the woman immediately replied. _"I trust that pistol isn't too complicated for you to use?"_

"It may have a few fancy lights and a design that would likely make Stark drool, but if it works like any other basic gun, then I shouldn't have a problem," Steve replied, and he quickly slipped his mask on over his head just for old time's sake before racing towards one of the nearby rooms that was actually open to him.

 _"Good to hear it, but for now, you should try to take cover. The mechs are converging on your position."_ No sooner had Miranda said those words, a small number of slim robots with guns came through the door and immediately started firing on Steve as soon as their optics had found him. Instead of taking cover though, Steve reacted on instinct and raised his shield in defense before taking aim with his borrowed weapon and pulling the trigger, letting loose a few, precise shots on the mechs as he did. He may not have been a master marksman like Hawkeye or Black Widow, but Steve was still a very impressive shot, and in no time at all, he managed to land a hit on each mech until the machines were all dispatched.

As soon as he had dealt with the immediate threat, Steve quickly raced across the length of the room and into a corridor which provided a window to the outside, and a small glance out said window allowed Steve to realize that he was in Space. Now, most people would probably be a little stunned by this revelation, but seeing as he had been in Space and other parts of the galaxy multiple times before now, Steve was able to just shrug it off and keep moving, figuring he would find out how he was out amongst the stars later on, along with who this station belonged to. The fact that Miranda was constantly urging him to keep moving was also a rather driving factor, as Steve could tell just by her voice that it would not be a good idea to upset her at the moment by taking his time and staying in one place for very long.

He encountered a few more mechs along the way, but they were just as easily dealt with as the first group, and with Miranda guiding him over the intercom, Steve was able to navigate his way through the station rather easily, at least until a new problem arose. _"You're doing fine, Captain…Head to the next…Captain, do you read me? I've got mechs closing in on my position, and…"_

The last thing that Steve heard from the radio he was using was the sound of an explosion, and with that the line went dead, indicating that something had happened to Miranda, and he would need to try and find out what. The only problem was that he had no idea where she was in the station, if he could get to her, or even where he was in the station period, at least beyond what Miranda had told him, so he bit back a curse and kept moving in the direction he had been before he lost contact. When he came to another door, he quickly opened it to find more mechs firing on a tall, dark skinned man in a black uniform that he did not recognize at all, as the man took cover behind a guard rail and returned fire. Once again, Steve reacted on instinct and sprang into action by tossing his shield at the mechs, letting it soar through the air and slice through each of the immediately threatening machines before returning to his arm and giving him a chance to run over to where the man was taking cover.

"What're you doing here," the man gasped when he saw Steve crouching next to him. "I thought you were still a work in progress."

None of that made any sense to Steve, so he decided to ignore it for now and get to the more important details. "Are you with Miranda," the super soldier asked.

"Yeah; sorry, I forgot this is all new to you right now," the man replied, apologetically. "I'm Jacob Taylor. I've been stationed here for…"

 **"Hostiles detected,"** a mechanical voice suddenly said, drawing the twos attention to the other side of the large room, and across the chasm that separated the two sides to see that a new group of mechs had entered the room and were now firing on them.

"Damn it," Jacob swore as he ducked down behind their cover once again to avoid getting hit. He then popped back up to return fire and knocked out a mech with a single head shot before he looked back to Steve. "Look, as great an honor it is to meet you in person, things must be worse than I thought if Miranda's got you running around. I'll fill you in, but we've got to get you to the shuttle first."

"How about just giving me the short version for now," Steve requested.

"I guess that's fair enough," Jacob conceded. "Here's the quick version: about a little over a year ago, we found where your body had been laid to rest, and if we had another option, we would've left you there, but unfortunately, the galaxy needs you back in action, so our scientists spent the last year and a half putting you back together. You looked a lot older then than you do now, and you were comatose or worse the entire time. Now, welcome back to the galaxy at large, and to your new life."

Steve had to take a couple minutes to process that before he finally sighed and said, "And I'm guessing that it's been a large number of years since I went to sleep again. Why is it that I've now been brought back to life when I should've just been laid to rest for the second time now?"

"Couldn't tell you," Jacob replied with a small smile. "Still, I think you should know that it's been over a hundred years since you had 'died.' Everyone thinks you've been dead for all that time, and if we don't get to those shuttles, you will be."

"What's the deal with those mechs though," Steve immediately asked.

"They're meant for security. Usually they fight for us, but somebody must've hacked them. That should be impossible unless you've got access."

"Why bring me back though? What's so important that someone would want to revive Captain America?"

"I'll tell you what, you help me finish off these mechs, and I'll play Twenty Questions with you all day," Jacob finally said, indicating that he was starting to run out of patience, a fact that Steve could not blame him for, under the circumstances. "We're low on thermal clips, but I'm a biotic. Just give the order when you want me to hit them with the good stuff."

"Wait, what's a biotic," Steve asked.

Instead of answering, Jacob just popped up from cover again and suddenly started glowing blue. The next thing Steve knew, the man had thrown his hand forward, and a small group of the attacking mechs were sent flying into the air before they suddenly dropped into the chasm below. Seeing the slightly stunned look on Steve's face, Jacob had to smirk a little as he said, "Someone who can do stuff like that and more. You ready now, Cap?"

Steve just reloaded his pistol with a smirk of his own and asked, "Do you really have to ask, soldier?"

Jacob smirked in reply and a minute later, the two were unleashing hell on the mechs. Between Captain America's combat skills and Jacob's biotics, the mechs stood absolutely no chance, and in short order, the machines were nothing more than scrap metal. After a quick fire fight, Jacob threw one last mech in the air, leaving it open for Steve to toss his shield through it, slicing it clean in two before it fell in the large chasm below. Once he had secured the shield back onto his arm again, Steve turned to see Jacob holstering his pistol as it seemed to fold in on itself and then look to him with a grateful look.

"Man, seeing you in action really is something else, never mind fighting beside you," Jacob gasped. He soon took a breath to recompose himself and said, "Okay, I promised I'd answer your questions, so what do you want to know."

Steve had at least a million questions running through his mind, but after a moment of silence, he figured it would be better to settle for the most important ones. "You said that they had spent a little over a year bringing me back. Just how bad was my condition?"

"When I first saw you, you looked like you could be my grandpa, and it was only getting worse by the second," Jacob replied. "They must've spent the first few months reversing the adverse effects of the Super Soldier Serum before they worked on reviving you completely. I'm no doctor, but I do know that it took seriously impressive stuff from medical science. Anywhere else, they'd have put you in a coffin, but Project Lazarus was different. All cutting edge technology."

"What can you tell me about this project," Steve asked. "Did they use things like cloning or cybernetics?"

"I don't know the details; you'd have to ask the scientists, but I'm pretty sure you're not a clone," Jacob chuckled in reply. "You're still you, just back to your old self before the serum started causing problems for you."

"Anything else, like whether or not there were other test subjects," Steve inquired.

"Project Lazarus has only had two subjects, including you," Jacob revealed. "The first one was the galaxy's greatest hero since you. In fact, some people would probably say that he was a modern day version of you: Commander John Shepard, the first human Spectre. The only reason they switched over to you was because their attempts to bring Shepard back had ended in failure."

"What happened? Why was he a subject in this project," Steve asked.

"Short version: Shepard died about three years ago after his ship, the _Normandy_ was attacked by an unknown enemy," Jacob explained. "Aside from Shepard, the only ones who didn't make it out were a few service men from the lower decks, and Navigator Pressly, but everyone else, including the Non-Alliance crew members made it out. He was the only one that knew about the greatest threat to the galaxy we've ever seen, and who could get everyone together to stop it, but without him, you're our best bet. No pressure."

Steve nodded in understanding of all this. Admittedly, he was a bit lost in regards to some of the things Jacob had told him about this Commander Shepard person, but if Shepard really was anything like him then Steve could only assume that the commander had been a good man. He figured it would probably be better to ask for a bit more on the subject later, and decided to address the more immediate situation. "Do you know who's behind this attack or what they're after," Steve asked.

"Damned if I know," Jacob admitted. "I was getting ready for some shut-eye, and then bam, a bunch of explosions. Next thing I know, every damned mech in the place starts shooting at us. I'm guessing it had to be an inside job, because you'd need to have top security access to hack all the mechs."

"Just what is your job here anyway," Steve asked, wanting to get to know the man a little better.

"Depends on who you ask," Jacob replied with an easy-going shrug. "Technically, I'm Miranda's top lieutenant, but I'm just a soldier. Not like you or anything extraordinary, though. I served five years in the Alliance before this, and now I'm in charge of this station's security. It's usually a lot more dull than this, and normally I don't fire my gun unless it's target practice."

"I'd say that means you're doing your job pretty well then," Steve joked in reply, getting a chuckle out of Jacob in response. The super soldier then became serious again and said, "When I first woke up, someone named Miranda was talking to me over a radio, but we lost contact just before I ran into you."

"Miranda Lawson is the station's ranking officer," Jacob revealed. "She led the Lazarus team. It was her job to bring Shepard back to life, and when that failed, it became her job to bring you back, no matter what. Figures she'd try to save you. She took the failure of bringing Shepard back pretty hard, so she's not about to lose you now. Could you tell what was happening when you lost contact?"

"There was a lot of static, but I could hear a bit of gunfire and an explosion through it," Steve stated, his worry showing through his voice.

"Don't sweat it too much. She knows how to take care of herself," Jacob reassured the captain, though Steve could tell that the man was a bit worried about his colleague from how his voice wavered for a minute.

Deciding that they had spent enough time with questions, Steve moved on to the most important matter at the moment. "What's the quickest way to those shuttles you mentioned?"

"Depends on where the mechs were thickest," Jacob quickly replied as he immediately switched back to an all-business tone of voice. "It's probably best if we…"

Jacob paused in what he was saying for a minute when he received a signal over the radio, prompting him to raise his arm up as a glowing, holographic gauntlet suddenly appeared over said arm, much to Steve's shock. He then tapped a few different features on the gauntlet, indicating that it was some kind of advanced computer before he hit his radio to talk with the person on the other end. Steve was only able to hear Jacob's half of the conversation, since he did not want to risk tampering with his own radio too much without knowing a basic idea of how it worked, but from the sound of things, it seemed that Jacob was talking with another colleague of his that needed their help, and Jacob did not seem willing to leave the man to his own devices.

Looking to Steve's confused face, Jacob immediately explained, "Sorry, but it looks like we've got to go help one more person before we can get out of here. His name's Wilson, the chief medical tech."

"How do we get to him," Steve asked.

"Through the service tunnels over this way," Jacob said as he pointed over his shoulder, and the two immediately took off in that direction with Jacob leading the way. There was just one small problem with the route that they had to take, and that was the fact that it was crawling with mechs. Luckily, there was no shortage on places to take cover behind before they were shot full of holes, and Cap's reflexes were still as sharp as ever so he was able to have his shield raised to block any bullets before they could even scratch his skin, so all they really had to worry about was how quickly they destroyed the mechs in their way.

Eventually, they managed to make it to where Wilson was, and found him lying up against a pipe line holding his leg in pain, indicating that he had been shot there. Jacob made sure to keep Wilson calm while indicating a first aid station on the wall nearby to Steve, asking the captain to grab some medigel from it, and while Steve was skeptical as to how some gel was supposed to fix a man's injured leg at first, he was pleasantly surprised to see Wilson standing up straight with little problem just a few minutes after he had applied it to his leg. With Wilson now standing up straight, Steve was able to get a quick look over the man to find that he was bald with a bit of a beard, and that he wore a grey and white uniform with an odd looking, gold symbol on either shoulder, while the sleeves seemed to be rolled up just a short way past his elbows.

"Thanks Cap. Never thought you'd save _my_ life, so I guess that makes us even now," Wilson then said, drawing Steve's attention to the man. "I thought maybe I could shut down the security mechs, but whoever did this fried the whole system; completely irreversible."

"We didn't ask what you were doing," Jacob pointed out just before he noticed a problem in Wilson's story. "Why do you even have security mech clearance? You were in the Bio Wing."

"Weren't you listening? I came here to try and fix this. Besides, I was shot! How do you explain that," Wilson snapped.

There was something in Wilson's tone that felt off to Steve, along with the things he had been saying, as well as the things he was not saying, since Wilson did not actually answer Jacob's question, but since he did not really know the man like Jacob seemed to, he probably did not have much of a right to make any judgments. Thinking of how he did not know Wilson reminded Steve of the situation that they were descending into while the station was going crazy around them, so he immediately brought their focus back to the matter at hand and pointed out, "You're all strangers to me, but for now, we should focus on getting out of here before we start pointing fingers at anyone."

"Right, Cap," Jacob nodded in agreement. "We need to find Miranda though. We can't leave her behind."

"Forget about Miranda," Wilson suddenly snapped, a little too quickly one might say. "She was over in D-Wing, and the mechs were all over that sector. There's no way she survived."

"A bunch of mechs won't drop Miranda. She's alive," Jacob retorted.

"Then where is she, and why haven't we heard from her," Wilson asked. "There are only two possible explanations: she's either dead, or she's a traitor."

"Then why did she wake me up and warn me about the attack," Steve pointed out.

"Okay, maybe she's not a traitor," Wilson conceded. "But it doesn't change the facts. We're here; she's not, so we need to save ourselves."

"It there's even a chance that she's alright, then we should at least try and reach her," Steve tried to argue.

"Cap, I'll be the first to admit that I hate the idea of leaving a friend behind, but right now, you're more important here. Everyone on this station knew that when they signed up, and they're more than willing to give their lives to make sure you get out of here alive," Jacob argued, and Steve could tell from the resigned tone of Jacob's voice that he really did not want to say that, no matter how true it might have been.

Before any more could be said though, the other door leading out of the room suddenly sprang open and allowed a squadron of mechs to come streaming in, forcing Jacob and Wilson to take cover again while Steve raised his shield and pulled his pistol off of his belt to return fire until he could reach a decent cover as well. Steve was about to jump over the crates he had taken cover behind when Jacob suddenly activated the gauntlet he had used earlier and caused a number of the nearby crates to explode, taking the mechs with them, a rather impressive feat in Steve's eyes. Seeing as everything was calm again, everyone immediately stood up from where they had crouched down and holstered their weapons, save for Captain America's shield, and prepared to leave the room and head for the shuttle bay again when Jacob suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Look this is getting a little too tense for anyone's tastes, so Cap, if I tell you who we work for, will you trust me," Jacob asked. Admittedly, Jacob knew that doing so would probably land him in a lot of trouble, a fact that Wilson was quick to point out, but he knew that not telling Captain America anything about the matter was just as bad a call as anything else, especially if they wanted Cap to trust them and not expect a shot in the back.

"I'll try to keep an open mind, but unless you're part of an organization I actually know that has somehow survived the past century, I can't say it will mean much," Steve told the biotic.

"Fair enough," Jacob nodded. "The Lazarus Project, the program that attempted to rebuild Commander Shepard and brought you back, is funded and controlled by Cerberus. According to the Alliance, we're a radical, pro-human splinter group. Shepard had actually wiped out a few of our research bases, but things have changed in recent years since the Alliance had declared Shepard dead." When he saw Steve giving him a small look that clearly said he was barely following any of that, Jacob went on to add, "I know that may not mean much, and in your position, I'll admit that I'd be suspicious too, but I thought you deserved to know what's what. Once we're off the station, I'll take you to the Illusive Man, and he'll explain everything. I promise."

"The Illusive Man? Is he some kind of future version of Nick Fury," Steve asked.

"I…suppose that's one way of putting it," Wilson shrugged after thinking about it for a minute. "That's not his real name of course. Nobody knows who he really is."

"It was a code name the Alliance used for him, and it kinda stuck," Jacob finished.

Steve nodded in understanding and then turned to leave the room with the other two following close behind him as he commented, "Well, if I can't get any other answers here, then I guess I'll just have to wait until I meet this Illusive Man, so let's get moving, and keep those weapons primed and ready in case we run into anymore mechs, soldiers."

A pair of voices saying "yes sir" was the only response Steve received for his last comment, and with that, the three were soon rushing through the station as quickly as they could. They ended up encountering a few more mechs along the way, including some large ones that seemed more like dogs than persons, but thankfully, the three were able to ward them off until they had reached the point where the shuttle bay was just a hop, skip, and a jump away. The entire time they had been moving though, Steve could not help but notice that Wilson was a bit more hesitant in destroying the mechs than he and Jacob were, and the fact that so many of his shots seemed to miss some of those mechs just seemed all the more suspicious to the super soldier. Still, despite Wilson's suspicious behavior, they managed to reach the shuttle bay doors in no time, which Wilson was all too eager to open until he saw who was on the other side of the doors.

"Miranda," Wilson gasped. "But you were…"

Before Wilson could finish his sentence, he was cut off by the sound of a gunshot and he then dropped to the floor before the woman that Steve recognized from when he had woken up earlier, and who's face held a very deep scowl that marred its otherwise extremely beautiful features. Another glance at the woman in question revealed a pistol in her hand, which was clearly used to shoot Wilson in the chest at point blank, so there was little doubt that any miracle of modern medicine could help Wilson this time. The now dead body that lay at her feet did not seem to bother Miranda in the slightest beyond the distasteful scowl that she was throwing at him, but it certainly seemed to be a shock to Jacob.

"What the hell are you doing," Jacob shouted as he ran to stand over Wilson.

"My job. Wilson betrayed us all," Miranda simply revealed as she walked around Wilson's lifeless body to stand between Jacob and Steve, her voice providing further confirmation to her identity for Steve, while her movements also allowed him to get a better look at her once she had stepped completely into the light. From what he could see, Miranda's face was not the only beautiful feature about her, as her entire figure held the appearance of a woman that just about every man alive would find desirable, and that fact was not hidden at all by the very form-fitting white and black cat suit, and black boots that she was wearing. The same logo that Jacob and Wilson wore adorned the left side of her suit's chest, just a short distance from the opening in the suit that left some of her chest bare for the world to see.

Still, no matter how stunning Miranda was, or how much he was sure that he would be blushing at the sight of her right now in another situation, it did not stop Steve from holding his borrowed pistol in her direction, just as a precaution. "Even if you're sure of that, that's no reason to have just killed him. You could've taken him alive to see what he knew."

"Too risky," Miranda denied. "There's no telling how much a security risk he could've been. More importantly, he sabotaged the security systems, killed my staff, and he would've killed us."

"You sure about that, Miranda? We've known Wilson for years. What if you're wrong," Jacob questioned.

"I'm never wrong. I'd thought you'd have learnt that by now, Jacob," Miranda immediately replied with just the slightest hints of pride and light condescending in her voice.

After holding his gaze on her for another minute to see if she was lying, Steve finally relaxed his guard a little and placed his gun on his belt, letting it fold up as soon as he had, and admitted, "I had a hunch Wilson wasn't trustworthy anyways, so I suppose I'll have to take your word for it if you say that this is for the best. Now what's our next move?"

"We get on the shuttle and go. My boss wants to speak to you," Miranda replied, clearly showing that she was not making a request.

"You mean the Illusive Man that I've heard about," Steve asked in retort. "I know that you work for this Cerberus group, whatever they are."

Miranda was a little caught off guard by this statement, but she made sure that it did not show in any of her features, even after it had passed and she turned to the only person who could have informed Steve about such facts. "Ah, Jacob. I should've known your consciences would get the better of you," Miranda sighed.

"Lying to Captain America isn't a good idea in principle, let alone the way to get him to join our cause," Jacob retorted.

"Well since we're getting everything out in the open, is there anything else you'd like to know before we go, Captain," Miranda then asked as she turned her attention back to the man she had worked so hard to bring back to the land of the living.

Such a fact was something that Steve wanted a bit more information on from the woman who had done this, so he immediately asked, "I was told that you were this Lazarus Project's director. Is that true?"

"Yes," Miranda nodded. "I put three years of my life into this project. The first half of it into Commander Shepard, and the other half into you."

"So what does Cerberus want from me," Steve asked as a follow-up.

"Probably the same thing that the Illusive Man wanted from Commander Shepard. Whatever that is, you would be better off asking the Illusive Man about when you meet him. He poured virtually unlimited resources into Lazarus, so obviously he had some kind of plan for Shepard that he's now redirected onto you," Miranda stated.

Steve nodded in understanding before he thought back to the attack. "What exactly happened during the attack when I lost contact with you?"

"Wilson had figured out I was helping you and he sent an army of mechs to take me out," Miranda revealed. "I got here as soon as I could…probably a little too soon if you ask Wilson."

"What about the rest of the people on this station," Steve asked, clearly still concerned about anyone who may or may not still be left.

"This is the evac area, and if they're not here, they're not coming," Miranda revealed.

Steve wanted to argue, but before he could, he immediately remembered Jacob's words from earlier and squashed down the argument. He may not like the fact that so many people had likely given their lives to make sure he lived, but he could understand that they were willing to make such a sacrifice if they thought it would help others in the long run. "So where will we be heading after we get off this station," Steve then asked.

"Another Cerberus facility," Miranda easily answered. "The Illusive Man is waiting for you there." As soon as she saw the neutral look that had formed on Steve's face, Miranda was able to determine exactly what he was thinking, and immediately said, "I know that you probably don't trust us, but this is the only shuttle off this station, so if you want to stay and rot with the mechs, be my guest."

Steve could see that the woman had a point, and after one last glance out the window into the immediate area of the station, Steve finally said, "I've honestly had enough of this station to last a lifetime."

"Or three, in your case," Miranda lightly joked, and she then gave a small nod in the direction of the shuttle to signal the two men to follow her as she moved to the ship herself. Jacob was quick to follow after the stunning woman, but Steve had to pause and take one last look back, thinking about how so many people had likely sacrificed themselves in this attack just so he could live again in another new future, before he joined them in boarding the shuttle. As soon as the ship had lifted off and blasted out of the massive station, Steve could only blink before it suddenly jumped to faster-than-light speeds, all the while wondering just what awaited him in this strange new future, and how much had changed since he had gone to sleep this time around.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so a few quick things before I bring this first chapter to a close:_**

 ** _1) The MARVEL continuity for this story is mainly a mix of the MCU, and the mainstream universe in the comics, with a few other elements from other MARVEL franchises appearing here and there, so that's why Cap has the suit he wore in Avengers: Age of Ultron yet he seems like how he was in the most recent developments of the comics._**

 ** _2) Yes, Cap will be taking Shepard's place in the events of the story, but this is not a typical hero of another franchise fills the role of the original hero from the featured franchise story. I won't say anymore than that at this time though, because you'll have to wait and see what surprises I have in store for later on down the road._**

 ** _3) Yes, this takes place during Mass Effect 2, because honestly, there was no way that I could see for this to take place during the first game without somehow replacing Shepard with Captain America completely._**

 ** _4) Yes, there will be other MARVEL characters in this story, and no, I will not say who they are until they show up, so don't expect any spoilers on that front from me. I will say that those characters from MARVEL that show up will be joining Cap's team on the_ Normandy _, along with most of the characters from the original Mass Effect continuity, but I can't guarantee that everyone from the Mass Effect 2 team will be able to make the cut for this story. I will try to make sure that all the most memorable characters, at least in my opinion, make it in though._**

 ** _Now then, if there's anything I didn't cover here, I will more than likely cover it in the next chapter's author's notes, and I will answer any questions you may pose in a review in the author's notes as well, but if you think that it would not be appropriate to post the question in a review, then by all means, send me a PM if you can. That's all for now folks, so Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _After a quick test from Miranda and Jacob to make sure he was in top, mental condition, and reviewing the most recent galactic history concerning Earth and that of the galaxy at large, Captain America meets with the Illusive Man and discovers why he was brought back to life in the Twenty Second Century. Hearing about the citizens of human colonies being abducted is almost all Steve needs to hear before heading for the most recently attacked colony along with Miranda and Jacob so that they can investigate and get some answers. Just what will they find on the colony known as Freedom's Progress, and who will they encounter? Find out next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	2. Encounters

_**Error...Error...System is unable to transmit properly...searching for signal...signal located...**_ _ **Retrieving data...retrieving data...transmission continuing...**_

 _ **AN: Check one, check two...hello? Is this thing working? Hello? Hello! He-oh look that, it is working. No need to worry about that little thing from a minute ago everyone, just some technical details over here that are the result of a small irritating bug (a bug by the name of Deadpool, don't ask), but you don't want to hear me gripe about that, or how my plans for a certain bit of pest control (hint, hint), no, you all want to see what happens next in this story for the First Avenger's adventure in the Mass Effect universe. We'll be seeing first encounters galore this time around, hence the title of the chapter, and this will also be the point where things really start to get kicked off for the main adventure, so sit back enjoy, and if you need me after the disclaimer, I'll just be preparing a few traps, repellents, and various other extermination tools, that just happen to make really big explosions and are geared toward dealing with a certain mercenary that came out of Weapon X.**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Encounters**

As they were traveling to the Cerberus facility where Steve would meet with the Illusive Man, Miranda and Jacob took the time to ask the captain a few questions to make sure that he was still himself in body and mind. Jacob had tried to insist that there was really no need to carry out the tests, but Miranda felt that it was best for them to be sure that Captain America was still himself in every aspect, so Jacob had to concede and ask Steve the questions that would test how strong Steve was psychologically. The questions mainly referred to Steve's personal history, such as notable points on his service record from World War II and his time leading the Howling Commandos, but they did not stop there, as they eventually asked him about more recent matters, or at least, what Steve would consider to be more recent. These questions inquired about things that Steve remembered from his time in the Twenty First Century, which the two Cerberus operatives explained had become better known as the Age of Marvels, and it really highlighted a few matters such as the moment that Steve met and joined the Avengers, his encounters with some of the other heroes of that time, and some of the major events that took place during the time, like the Civil War and the Phoenix Five Incident. In all honesty, talking about some of those points in history ended up bringing back some memories that Captain America was not too fond of, but he still did his best to answer the questions as honestly as he could without letting his feelings on the events show. When they finally finished, Steve saw that they still had a reasonable amount of time and asked that they give him an update on the more recent events in history.

Miranda happily handed Steve a data pad to look over that contained everything about galactic history that Steve would need to know, and after looking over a few different sections, Steve could honestly say that he was rather shocked at what he discovered. In the year 2148, humanity had discovered ancient, alien ruins on Mars that led them to expand further out into the galaxy, and eventually become part of a larger galactic community, which was often referred to as Citadel Space, but it was not until after an event known as the First Contact War. It was mostly thanks to aid from the Kree and the Shi'ar Empire that humanity was able to survive the conflict, but from that point on though, it seemed that everything had become like something that would be considered science fiction even in the Twenty First Century. One would think that with such a mindset, Steve would find something that he could laugh about a little, but what he found instead just made him quite upset. It seemed that the larger galaxy had more problems than Earth ever had during the Twenty First Century, whether it be the use of the genophage to stop the Krogan Rebellions, the fact that the Quarians were not allowed an embassy on the Citadel simply because they had created the Geth, or even how they had handled the threat of the Rachni. The worst of it though seemed to be in how the Citadel races and a good number of other races seemed to regard humanity, who had brought all their individual governments together to form the Systems Alliance after the discovery on Mars, as it seemed that many races in the galaxy regarded humanity as nothing more than bullies or children trying to reach further than they should.

At least that was the case until he read about what had happened three years ago, in the year of 2183. This particular moment in history caught Steve's eye because it seemed to highlight the efforts of Commander John Shepard and his becoming the first human member of the Citadel Spectres, a special tasks group that handled a lot of the hard, and sometimes dirty work of the Citadel Council. Reading about the Spectres quickly made Steve think of a larger, intergalactic version of SHIELD, but that was something he only noted in passing, as he was more focused on the story of Shepard's first mission as a Spectre. Everything from how Shepard was constantly pursuing the rogue Spectre agent, Saren, to his encounter and subsequent releasing of the last Rachni queen, the incident on Virmire where Shepard was forced to leave one of his squad members behind in order to destroy a dangerous facility of Saren's, right up to the final battle that nearly destroyed the Citadel. In all honesty, if what he had read here was any indication, Steve could see a bit of the reason why Jacob had compared him to Shepard, but the thing that really caught his attention was the information about a race of sentient machines known as the Reapers.

To say he was disturbed by what he read about all that had been discovered by Shepard and his team in regard to the race of massive, mechanical beings would be to put it mildly, as Steve could hardly believe that such beings could exist for the sole purpose of wiping out all intelligent life in the galaxy every fifty thousand years, and yet, the evidence was there, plain as day, and not just because of how Saren's ship was actually a Reaper itself. As a result, Steve had to breathe a small sigh of relief when he read about how Shepard had managed to destroy the Reaper known as Sovereign, which lead to humanity receiving a seat on the Citadel Council. When he read about how the _Normandy_ and Shepard had been destroyed a month later, Steve had to say a small, silent prayer for the loss of someone who was clearly such a good man.

When he had finished reading the material Miranda had provided, his first question was on whether or not it was entirely accurate, as Jacob had told him that Cerberus was considered to be a pro-human splinter group by the Alliance. The lovely Cerberus operative easily replied that Steve could check the information against another source at some point later on if he wanted to, to which Steve nodded before settling back in his seat to spend the rest of the trip in relative silence. He did not have to wait long though, as they finally arrived at their destination just minutes after he had finished his review of the information. Once they were off the shuttle and in what would be considered a lounge area, Miranda gestured to an open door and said, "The Illusive Man is waiting for you in the room just over there, Captain."

Steve just nodded in reply to Miranda's short statement as the woman moved off to the side to do some work on a computer while Jacob just walked over to one of the windows to stare off into space for a while, figuratively and literally, leaving Steve to make his way to the room where he was to meet with Cerberus's leader. A short walk and a small flight of stairs later saw Steve entering a dimly lit, empty room with a circular platform in the center of it. Confused at this sight, Steve slowly entered the room until he was standing on top of the platform, which suddenly came online with a small hum as soon as he was in the middle of it. A second later, a holographic cylinder rose up around him, while what appeared to be a scanner ran over his body, until the room suddenly seemed to fade into the background as is surroundings changed to another, barely lit room that had a large window or screen of some type that was displaying a very close-up image of a star on it. Sitting in front of the image, smoking a cigarette, was a man with grey hair, steel-blue eyes that Steve could swear were likely prosthetic, given their appearance, and dressed in a black suit.

"Steven Rogers, the mighty Captain America," the man greeted in mostly suppressed awe.

"The Illusive Man, I presume," Steve asked as he crossed his arms, getting a nod from the man in reply. "I was under the impression that we would be meeting in person."

"A necessary precaution," the Illusive Man stated. "Not unusual for people who know what I know, as I'm sure you know from time spent with one Nick Fury of SHIELD."

"Fury may have been the greatest skeptic I've ever known, and willing to go to extreme lengths to defend the world, but I knew I could trust him. You, I'm not so sure about, even if you did bring me back to full health," Steve quickly retorted.

"Fair enough, but you need to put your personal feelings aside for the moment. Humanity is up against the greatest threat of our bleak existence since the likes of Thanos, the Skrull, Ultron, and the Phoenix Force," the Illusive Man then revealed.

"You mean these Reapers that I've heard about," Steve asked.

"Correct."

"What exactly are they doing that made you decide to bring me back after you failed in bringing back Commander Shepard?"

The Illusive Man tensed a little at the reminder of how they had failed to save Shepard, but he quickly brushed it off as he stood up and approached the holographic image of the legendary captain that he was seeing from his end of the conversation and explained the situation to Steve. "We're at war," the Illusive Man revealed. "No one wants to admit, but humanity is under attack. Much has happened while you've been sleeping, Captain, as I'm sure you're already aware, but most recently, entire human colonies have been disappearing. We believe it's someone working with the Reapers, just as Saren and the Geth aided Sovereign. You've seen similar things to this and bested all of it, and that's just one reason we chose you as Shepard's replacement."

Steve was not sure how to feel about being called a replacement, but he knew that nothing the Illusive Man said about him made him feel flattered. He managed to shake it off though and get back to the matter at hand by inquiring a bit further into the topic at hand. "Why is your organization involved in this?"

"We're committed to the advancement and preservation of humanity, Captain," the Illusive Man easily replied. "If the Reapers are targeting us, trying to wipe us out, Cerberus will stop them, but if we wait for politicians or the Alliance to act, no more human colonies will be left."

"From what I've read, the Reaper known as Sovereign had tried to harvest all life in the galaxy, so why would the Reapers only target a few human colonies," Steve pointed out.

"Hundreds of thousands of colonists have vanished. I'd say that fits the definition of harvesting," the Illusive Man lightly snarled. "Nobody's paying attention because its random, and the attacks occur in remote locations. I don't know why they've suddenly targeted humanity, but maybe Shepard got their attention when he killed one of them."

In all honesty, that did make some form of sense to Steve, considering that he had read that the Reapers were supposed to be nearly unstoppable, and considering what he read about what it took to defeat Sovereign, he would believe such a thing. "If this is a threat against humanity, then you should alert the Alliance. Have them mobilize their forces or request that they send out the Avengers," Steve advised.

The Illusive Man had to give a dry chuckle in response to this before he said, "The Alliance suffered substantial losses fighting Sovereign. They're rebuilding, still stretched too thin to waste resources verifying the Reaper threat. Blaming the abductions on mercs and pirates is easier, and move convenient for them. As for the Avengers, they haven't been around since the end of the Age of Marvels. In fact, aside from you, there's really only one other Avenger who's even still alive today, fighting the good fight. They're ancient history, the stuff you find in museums, and even if we requested the aid of the X-Men, it would be no different than asking for help from the Alliance."

"Why's that," Steve asked.

"Because you'll be pleased to hear that Charles Xavier's dream for peace between humans and mutants was finally realized, and as a result, all teams of mutant heroes were brought together as one large team of X-Men to serve as peace-keepers and soldiers in the Alliance. Both options are only if a mutant wishes to do so, but no one is trying to lock up or force a mutant to register anymore. You could say that the X-Men followed yours and Stark's lead when you started your Avengers World Initiative."

Steve was happy to hear that Professor X's dream for mutant kind was finally realized, but it was also disheartening that Charles was unable to see it be achieved. The only thing that was more disheartening was the fact that the Avengers did not exist anymore, as Steve was sure that the team's descendants or any of the younger heroes from the Age of Marvels would try to carry on the legacy for a while, at least. He cast these sad feelings aside for the moment, deciding to feel depressed about it later when there was not some important matter to attend to, and then brought his attention back to his enigmatic host. "You could've trained an entire army, or even revived the Avengers for what you spent trying to bring back Shepard and then bringing me back," Steve told the Illusive Man, though he had a strong hunch that the Cerberus leader would have a counterargument for that point too.

"You and Shepard are both unique, each in your own ways," the Illusive Man pointed out, proving Cap's suspicions true. "Not just in abilities or what you've experienced, but in what you both have come to represent. Shepard stood for humanity in a key moment, and you've fought for what you believe in at every turn, no matter what stood in your way or who opposed you. You're more than a soldier, Rogers, more than a hero even; you're a symbol and the same goes for Shepard. I don't know if the Reapers understand fear, but Shepard killed one of them, and you've defeated the likes of Thanos, a titan with near-godlike powers, and the Phoenix Force, a cosmic entity that holds the power of destruction and rebirth. They have to respect things like that."

Steve would not deny the man had a point in that regard, even if it were not for the fact that he did not defeat Thanos or the Phoenix Force on his own, and it could also be argued that he technically did not defeat the Phoenix, but such facts were not important in this case, so there was really only one thing he could say at that point. "If what you're telling me is true, and the Reapers are behind all of this, I would consider helping you, but like I said before, I can't say for certain that I can trust you."

"I'd be disappointed if you accepted any of this without seeing it for yourself," the Illusive Man smirked, almost in a way like he had just won an important game. "I have a shuttle ready to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted. Miranda and Jacob will brief you."

Now the captain had a bit of a problem. "Miranda killed Wilson in cold blood, and Jacob's just a gun for hire. Do you really expect me to trust people like that so easily," Steve demanded.

Once again, the Illusive Man had something to say in favor of his decision, and explained, "Wilson was one of my best agents, but he was a traitor. Miranda did exactly what I would've expected of her, and she saved your life in more ways than one. Jacob's a soldier, one of the best. He never fully trusted me, but he's always been honest about it. You'll be just fine with them for now."

Seeing that he was not going to win any argument he had with the man, Steve just gave a quiet sigh and moved on to a more important question, asking, "What do you think we'll find on Freedom's Progress?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't need to send you," the Illusive Man replied. "Find any clues you can. Who's abducting the colonies, and do they have any connection to the Reapers? I brought you back, Captain Rogers, but it's up to you to do the rest."

With that, the Illusive Man closed the connection, and the holographic barrier around Steve sank back into the floor, just as he turned to leave the room and meet back up with Jacob and Miranda so that they could head out on their new mission.

* * *

Miranda was not entirely sure how long she had been filing her reports on the computer, but it was clearly long enough for Captain America's meeting with the Illusive Man to have completed, as the minute she paused to take a small break, she looked up to see the star spangled hero coming through the door. She was already well aware of the mission to Freedom's Progress, as was Jacob, so she told Steve as politely as she could that there was no need for him to tell them any of the details he had been told already, and then turned back to her computer so she could file a few more reports before their departure, and before she would move to help Jacob with one other matter as well in regards to the captain.

"Before we go anywhere, we should get you situated with some new armor and weapons," Jacob told Steve. "Don't get me wrong, the shield is incredible, but you can't use it for everything."

"And what's wrong with my uniform that makes it so I suddenly can't wear it into battle," Steve inquired in an indignant tone.

"Aside from the fact that its seriously outdated with the colors alone," Miranda asked, rhetorically. "It won't be able to keep you safe from a lot of modern day weapons and environments, so unless any part of it can help you to survive in a place with no breathable atmosphere, or just no atmosphere at all, I'd suggest you let Jacob outfit you with some armor."

Jacob threw Miranda a small look for her rudeness before he turned back to Steve and said, "Don't sweat it, Cap. We've had a custom set of armor made just for you, right down to the stars and stripes. We just need to check to make sure it fits properly. We should also get you outfitted with an omni-tool as well, since you'll need one if you want to hack an electronically locked door or keep up with your credits."

Steve just nodded in understanding as Jacob led him over to a small locker that was on the other side of the room, and watched as the man opened it up to reveal a set of armor that was almost exactly like his current suit, save for the fact that he could tell that it was more armored than his suit, given the slight amount of shine it gave off in a certain light, and the belt was a dark brown that was clearly more suited for carrying the weapons of this century. Jacob then went on to explain that the weapons harness was designed to allow him to carry his shield on his back without getting in the way of the weapons he would carry there, a fact that Steve was very grateful for, and also added that it was also equipped with shields that acted as added protection from enemy fire. After a few minutes of trial and error, they were happy to see that Captain America's new armor fit him perfectly, which left only the weapons that he would be carrying. Steve insisted that he would be better off with just a pistol, but Jacob argued that it would be better to carry more than one weapon in case he found himself in a situation where he ran out of ammo and thermal clips for the particular gun, so he ended up taking an M-8 Avenger assault rifle and an M-23 Katana shotgun in addition to the M-3 Predator Pistol he had already been carrying since he woke up on the Lazarus Project station.

As Jacob was double checking everything about Steve's armor and weapons just to be sure everything was in perfect order, Miranda decided to speak up once again, and said, "The Illusive Man seems very impressed with you, Rogers. I'm eager to see if you can live up to his expectations."

Steve had to narrow his eyes a little in irritation at the woman's attitude, but managed to keep a cool head as he asked, "I hope that won't make it hard for you to follow orders, Miss Lawson."

"I know who I report to," Miranda lightly snapped. "As long as you don't do anything to betray Cerberus, I'll follow your orders."

Steve was more than ready to start chewing her out once again, but decided that it was not worth it, so instead he figured he would try a different approach with Miranda by at least trying to get to know her a little. He figured that if he established some kind of sign that there was not any bad blood between them at the moment, it might make her a little easier to deal with. "I never did get a chance to thank you for what you did for me, so thanks," Steve said, not noticing how Jacob quirked an eyebrow at him from where he was working on the assault rifle Steve would use.

"I just hope it was worth it. A lot of people lost their lives on that station," Miranda replied as she finally turned from her computer to face Steve.

"That won't be a problem for the mission will it, Miranda? We're going to need to work together if we're going to get anything done, after all," Steve reminded her.

"I have the utmost respect for your abilities, Captain. It's your motivations that concern me," Miranda revealed. "I believe in what Cerberus stands for, but only time will tell if you'll be an asset or a liability to our cause."

"Fair enough," Steve shrugged in reply as he accepted his rifle from Jacob at last with a nod. "But can you tell me anymore about the Lazarus Project? You were in charge of it after all."

"I wasn't in charge, the Illusive Man was," Miranda quickly clarified. "If I was running the show, I would've done a few things differently."

"Such as," Steve prompted.

"Well to start, I would've implanted you with some kind of control chip, but the Illusive Man wouldn't allow it. He was afraid it might affect your personality, alter your character somehow. He wouldn't let us do anything that might limit your potential in any way," Miranda revealed, and there was no possible way that anyone could have missed the slight sneer she had when she mentioned how the Illusive Man did not want her to do something that could compromise who Steve was.

"Considering what I fought for, I'm actually glad to hear that I wasn't brought back with a leash like that on me," Steve remarked.

"Maybe, but the Illusive Man is taking an incredible risk with you, Rogers, probably an even greater one than he would have taken with Commander Shepard," Miranda pointed out.

Steve could tell that the subject was getting a little too touchy for Miranda, so he elected to change tactics and asked, "Why don't you tell me a little about yourself, Miranda?"

"Worried about my qualifications," Miranda asked as her lips turned up in a small smirk. "I can crush a mech with my biotics or shoot its head off at a hundred yards. Take your pick."

"I was actually hoping to learn something about you as a person, not what's on your resume," Steve clarified.

"I'm not looking for a friend, Captain. Stay focused on the mission," Miranda scoffed.

Jacob quickly put a hand on Steve's shoulder before the super soldier could say anything in reply, and from the look that the black man was giving him, Steve could tell that Jacob was giving him a silent message to just drop it for now. Figuring that since Jacob obviously knew Miranda better than he did, Steve nodded in response and holstered the last of his new weapons onto his belt before sliding his shield onto his back and grabbing his helmet as he headed towards the airlock that would lead them back to the shuttle. Just as he reached the door, he looked back to the two one last time and said, "Well if you two don't have anything more to say or do here, we'd best get moving. We've got a mission to carry out."

The two both nodded in response to this and immediately went over to the weapons locker to retrieve their own equipment before joining the captain in boarding the shuttle, each clearly sending a silent message to one and other about how they could all tell that this mission was going to be very interesting to say the least, and not just because of what the assignment was.

* * *

After a few hours of flying through Space, the three's shuttle was finally getting close to their destination, Miranda decided that they might as well see if their mission leader had any last minute questions before they landed or early commands to give. "We should be there shortly, Captain," Miranda informed Steve, getting his attention. "The Illusive Man has put us under your command, so do you have any orders?"

Admittedly, Steve knew that Miranda meant to ask if there was anything he wanted to know before they landed, but he was a little annoyed with how she did not actually voice that part of her question aloud. Then again, there was no real reason to be upset by such a thing, so he simply buried any annoyance he felt towards the woman and decided to get down to business. "Is there anything either of you can tell me about this colony?"

"Freedom's Progress is just your typical settlement in the Terminus," Miranda stated. "They had a small military force for protection supplemented by mechs and security drones. Average in almost every way, really. Completely unremarkable until the disappearance."

"And any thoughts on what we might find there," Steve asked.

"Unless something changes, a bunch of empty buildings and a hell of a giant mystery," Jacob replied, clearly stating in his tone that he was hoping that wouldn't be the case but he was not feeling very optimistic on the matter.

Steve nodded in understanding of that, as he knew what it was like to hate when things got repetitive with that kind of matter, and he then moved on to ask a bit more about whatever past investigations they might have made. "What did you find at the other colonies?"

"Nothing," Jacob replied in shame. "No signs of attack, no corpses, not even a trace of unusual genetic material to give us a clue. They just disappeared…and we've got no target to go after."

"So what makes you think we'll find anything new when we investigate this colony," Steve inquired.

"At other colonies, official investigators got there first," Jacob revealed. "Sometimes even looters or salvage teams as well. We're hoping to be the first ones there this time."

"Which means we'll have an easier time finding clues before anyone else disturbs the scene," Steve finished. Seeing both of his companions nod in affirmative served as all the prompting that Steve needed to move on to his first actual order. "Our first priority is to look for survivors."

"That's unlikely, Captain," Miranda argued. "No one was left at the other colonies. They were completely deserted."

"But it would be nice to find somebody. Anything's better than another ghost town," Jacob pointed out.

"And it would also mean that there would be a potential witness who could tell us what had happened," Steve added on to the point. "They might be a little traumatized depending on what had happened, but a traumatized witness is better than no witness at all." He then paused for a minute, seeing that they were about to land, and then decided to ask one last thing. "Are you two sure you'll be okay taking orders from an old fossil like me?"

"We didn't bring you back to second guess you, Cap. If the Illusive Man says you're in charge, you're in charge," Jacob stated as simply as possible, and a small glance in Miranda's direction quickly told Steve that she felt the same way, though he could see that it was with a bit more reluctance on the matter. Still, the fact that they were more than willing to follow his lead, whether it be begrudgingly or otherwise, was good enough for the World War II veteran and former Avenger, so Steve simply nodded in acceptance of that and stood up to climb out of the shuttle when it finally reached the surface.

For the most part, Freedom's Progress seemed to be covered in the darkness of night, assuming the colony experienced any daylight at all, aside from the few areas that were brightly lit up by powerful lights along the walls of the structures that were settled upon it, and the holographic lock of the nearby door, and the surface that the team stood on was a bit reminiscent of the ground on Earth's moon. Thankfully, there was a breathable atmosphere, so they did not really need helmets or oxygen masks, but Steve still wore his anyways, partially because he would have felt strange without it on, and also because the helmet's visor and oxygen mask could be retracted into the helmet when they were not needed. After taking a final glance at their immediate surroundings, Steve moved his shield to his left arm, and then signaled for Jacob and Miranda to move towards the nearby building with him.

A simple tap on the holographic image that opened the door admitted the team to the inside, where the lights flickered on and revealed what appeared to be an empty living space, where they could see some dinner plates and silverware lying on the table, giving them the impression that whoever was living there had simply got up and left in the middle of a meal. Deciding that it was not really all that important to think about at the moment, Steve simply led the group through the rest of the small building and out the opposite door to what appeared to be a massive courtyard, which seemed just as empty as the building they had just left. Aside from being as empty as the landing zone and the building they had just came out of, there was one thing about the large area that quickly grabbed everyone's attention.

"Strange…no bodies, no structural damage…no signs of battle," Miranda studied aloud for everyone, a point that was very clear, as none of them could see even the slightest hint of something that would indicate a typical attack, even on a remote colony like this one. Making a note of that for their report later, the team moved on to the large gate before them, but upon opening it, Steve picked up on a sign of an enemy preparing to fire on them, and immediately tossed his shield at the source of the attempted attack. The metal disk quickly sailed through the air, and sliced through a mech that was on the other side of a large chasm between their path and a building on the other side before it bounced off the wall and slashed through another one just as it fired off a few of shots that either missed everyone in the group or were simply shrugged off by their personal shields. Steve then used the specialized magnets in the arms of his armor to help him ensure that his trusty shield returned to his arm, and found himself smiling in satisfaction when the vibranium disk latched back onto his arm with a clunk.

"The defense systems were disabled at the other colonies," Miranda muttered aloud, but before she could continue her thought, she was immediately joining the two men in the group in ducking for cover as they came under fire from another group of mechs that were firing on them from the raised platform to their right. Seeing a FENRIS racing towards them, Miranda immediately reacted on instinct and threw out a biotic Slam that crushed the machine in an instant, leaving the LOKI mechs for Steve and Jacob to take down with a few quick shots from their respective weapons.

"It seems like we don't have a lot of luck with those mechs, do we," Steve lightly joked after holstering his pistol. It was mostly to ease the tension that the two were probably experiencing at this point, but a part of him did admit that it was because he was missing the jokes and quips that some heroes would throw out in instants like this right at the moment, particularly those of Spider-Man's as he always seemed to have a way to lighten the mood a little with his usually calm, and cheerful attitude.

Jacob had to smirk in response to Cap's humor, while Miranda just gave an unnoticeable smirk before the former commented, "Those mechs shouldn't have been hostile. They should've recognized us as human."

"Someone must've reprogrammed them to attack on sight; we're not alone here," Miranda reasoned. Such reasoning did make sense as the group continued to move forward onto the platform the machines had been firing from and the building it connected to, but none of them expected to encounter their fellow visitors the minute they stepped into the building.

"Stop right there," a man in a small squadron shouted as he and his comrades raised their assault rifles at the three, prompting Miranda and Jacob to raise their own weapons in response while Steve brought his shield in front of him in a manner that showed he was ready to either attack or defend at a moment's notice. Upon looking over the people standing opposite of them, Steve was quickly able to recognize them as members of the Quarian race from their elaborate survival suits and heavily tinted helmets, having seen an image of a typical Quarian in the files he had read during the trip to his meeting with the Illusive Man.

It seemed that they were going to fall into a fire fight with the Quarians when a female member of the group suddenly rushed forward to stand between the groups. "Prazza, you said you'd let me handle this," the woman stated, and from her voice, Steve could tell that she was likely very young. Probably just about the same age that he figured Spider-Man was when he first met the young web-swinger.

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives," Prazza retorted.

"Put those weapons down," the woman shouted, clearly showing that she was likely in command before she turned back to Steve's group and then indicated the super soldier when she spoke to them. "You, with the shield, who are you?"

Steve quickly waved for Miranda and Jacob to lower their weapons, hoping that doing so would show that they were not here to cause trouble, and then addressed the young woman in a voice that was gentle and calming, yet also powerful and commanding; the kind of voice that he would often use when giving a speech to his friends or when meeting someone in the middle of a mission. "My name is Steve Rogers, better known to the people of Earth and a few different alien races as Captain America."

"Captain America? Of the Avengers," the woman asked.

"Yes," Steve nodded. "You've heard of me?"

"Only a few stories I heard from an old friend on the Alliance ship I served aboard three years ago," the woman admitted. "I always thought that Shepard and Joker were pulling my leg on some things in those stories though."

Having caught a number of the clues in what the woman said, immediately led Steve to gain an idea of who this particular Quarian was, and he immediately asked, "I take it that you're the same Quarian who served under Commander Shepard when he was hunting Saren three years ago?"

"Yes. My name is Tali'Zorah Vas Neema," the woman revealed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I've read quite a bit about your contributions to Shepard and the _Normandy_ during that mission. You seem like quite the skilled young lady from what I've read," Steve complimented with a smile as he held out a hand for Tali to shake.

"Oh…well, thank you," Tail said in a slightly bashful tone as she accepted the handshake. "But how are you alive, and what're you doing here, if you don't mind my asking."

At this point, Steve's face hardened into an all-business expression and he explained, "The group you know as Cerberus reversed the negative effects of the Super Soldier Serum and restored me to life, and in return, they've asked me to investigate these attacks on human colonies."

"You'll pardon us for not taking you at your word, Cerberus," Prazza snarled. "Especially if you expect us to really believe that you are 'Captain America.' Many of the galaxy's races know that such people are merely things that the Kree and Shi'ar say in order to help humans look better."

"I assure you, I'm real, and a great deal of those stories are more than likely true," Steve assured Prazza.

"More to the point, we're well within our rights to investigate attacks on a human colony. I'd like to know what the Quarians are doing here," Miranda added on in retort.

Though she did not like the Cerberus woman's attitude or tone, Tali would not deny that she had a point, so she threw another look at Prazza and his squad and said, "Weapons down, Prazza. Whatever's going on here, I don't think we need another fight." When Prazza's team finally holstered their weapons, Tali turned back to Steve's group and explained, "One of our people was here on Pilgrimage. His name was Veetor, and we came to find him."

"What exactly is this 'Pilgrimage' thing," Steve asked, quickly getting a look from Tali that he could only assume was one that silently asked if he was being serious. "I've only been awake in this century for a few hours or so, now, so I'm not entirely up to speed on everything in the modern…galaxy," Steve explained in response.

"The Pilgrimage is a rite of passage among our people, which proves that we are ready for adulthood and are willing to give ourselves for the greater good, in simplest of terms. It asks that we leave our birth ships and then return to a new ship in the fleet when we find something of value to the Quarians," Tali explained.

"If that is the case, then it seems a little strange that a Quarian would come to a remote, human colony for a Pilgrimage," Steve commented.

"Quarians can choose where they go on Pilgrimage, Captain, and Veetor liked the idea of helping a small settlement. He was always…nervous in crowds," Tali elaborated.

"She means that he was unstable," Prazza corrected. "Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers, and an infection from an open air exposure, and he's likely delirious."

Tali paused in her conversation with the captain to throw Prazza a look for his comment, and then turned back to Steve so she could continue. "When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town. We suspect that he reprogrammed the mechs to attack anything that moved."

Steve nodded in understanding of this and then thought about this new information for a minute before he finally said, "If that is the case, then Veetor might be the only one who can tell us what happened here, so we should work together to find him."

"Good idea," Tali nodded in agreement. "You'll need two teams to get past the drones anyway."

"Now we're working for Cerberus," Prazza demanded, indignantly.

"No Prazza, you're working for me. If you can't follow orders, go wait on the ship," Tali snapped at the man, and Prazza found that he could nothing more than grumble and rejoin his fellow soldiers in checking over their weapons. Satisfied that Prazza's attitude had been dealt with for the moment, Tali looked back to Captain America and said, "Head for the warehouse through the center of the colony. We'll circle around the far side and draw off some of the drones to clear you a path."

Steve nodded in response and then said, "Make sure you stay in radio contact at all times."

If Quarians had eyebrows under their helmets, then Steve was sure that Tali would be raising one of hers in confusion at that point, as she soon asked, "You're not concerned about how my people don't like Cerberus, or why?"

"In all honesty, I am a little curious, but right now, it doesn't matter," Steve stated. "Like you said, our teams need to work together if we're going to get to Veetor, so until that's done, anything that's happened in the past doesn't matter."

Tali stared at Steve in surprise for a minute, having felt like she was talking to Shepard just then when she heard his response, but she quickly shook herself out of it and nodded in understanding to his words. "Good luck then, Captain America. See you on the far side," Tali said as she turned to lead her team out to the path that they would be taking.

Though Tali was fully on board with helping Captain America, Prazza was still not so eager, a feeling that was clearly shared by the rest of the squad just from looking at them. Tali could not really blame them though, as Cerberus had certainly earned the Quarian people's ire, but as the captain had just pointed out, now was not the time to get swept up in petty grudges over something that had happened a long time ago, especially if they wanted to reach Veetor with everyone still alive. This was a fact that Prazza did not seem to recognize though, much to Tali's irritation. "You cannot seriously expect Cerberus bosh'tets to keep their word," Prazza argued. "I don't care what that man says; there is no way he is who he claims to be, and even if he is, we still can't let them reach Veetor before we do."

"As much as I'd hate to admit this, Prazza, the Cerberus woman was right," Tali groaned in response. "This is a human colony, so they do have a right to find out what happened to the people here. If Veetor can help them discover the answer, then we should at least let them meet with him for a moment before taking him back to the Flotilla for treatment."

"No! If we let Cerberus reach Veetor first, they will kill him or worse, just like they have killed our people before! I won't let that happen," Prazza insisted, and he would have run off at that point, had Tali not grabbed him by the arm and flipped him over her shoulder with ease.

"I won't explain myself or ask you to listen again, Prazza," Tali nearly shouted. "Now, follow orders, or go back to the ship. Your choice."

Prazza said nothing as he stood up again and dusted himself off, and then threw Tali what she knew was a very agitated glare before brushing past her and continuing on ahead with his squad following right behind him. Tali stared at the departing Quarians for a few minutes before she finally released a breath she did not realize she was holding and moaned, "Keelah, how did you do this kind of thing almost every day, Shepard?"

Thinking of her old commander made Tali think back to when she had been speaking with Captain America, and in all honesty, Tali was not sure why she felt as though the super soldier was like Shepard in that moment, but one thing was certain, if her feelings were right, and Steve Rogers really was anything like Commander Shepard, then she was rather confident she could count on him when it mattered most. At least, for the most part.

* * *

Steve was not sure how effective Tali's troops were at keeping the drones busy, but given how few he, Jacob, and Miranda encountered as they made their way through the colony to the warehouse Tali had mentioned, he had to guess that it was rather effective. One could even argue that they rarely ever had to fire off more than a few shots at a time for the majority of their trip, and Jacob and Miranda were honestly surprised at how little need there was for their biotic powers in the situation. It all seemed to be going smoothly, but after all his years of experience with various different and strange situations one thing that Captain America knew for certain was that things always ended up skyrocketing downhill just when you thought that the worst had passed.

This time ended up proving to be no different, as just seconds after they finished dealing with the most recent squad of drones in their path, the three received a call through their radios from Tali. _"Rogers, Prazza and his squad have rushed on ahead. I told them to wait but they wouldn't listen,"_ the young Quarian cried out in a near panic. _"They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here."_

"We should've expected this," Miranda said in a superior sounding tone that did not really fit the statement.

Jacob just ignored Miranda's smart remark and quickly said, "We can still catch them if we hurry though."

"Agreed," Steve nodded. "Tali, do what you can for now to make sure that your people don't end up rushing into something that's over their heads until we get there."

 _"Understood,"_ Tali replied.

With that dealt with, the three quickly hastened their pace, determined to catch up with the mistrustful Quarian before it was too late, only pausing for a moment to destroy whatever random mechs was unfortunate enough to move into their path. They did not stop moving until they had reached a large, locked door, through which they soon heard sounds of gunshots and explosions from the other side. "Tali, what's happening," Steve demanded in concern.

 _"We're inside the loading docks, but Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech that's tearing Prazza's squad apart,"_ Tali responded.

"They did want to get to Veetor first," Miranda commented.

"Not the time, Miranda," Steve immediately snapped before he turned his attention back to his comm. "Tali, we're on the other side of the door right now. Is there any way you can get someone to open it so we can provide assistance?"

 _"Not a problem,"_ Tali said. _"Get your squad into cover and I'll open the loading bay doors in just a minute."_

"You heard the woman. Move," Steve shouted to the two Cerberus operatives, and they both immediately ducked to a position where they would be safe from any enemy fire until they caught enough of a break to race to better cover. They did not need to wait long, as the minute the gates were open, the three were immediately greeted with the sight of a large mech that Miranda and Jacob identified as an YMIR mech, which was focusing all of its attention and weapons fire on the Quarians that were shooting at it. Needless to say, unless they had managed to find safety somewhere, the Quarian troops never stood a chance against the massive machine and its fire power.

"That mech's got heavy-armor plating," Jacob observed aloud for the three once they had managed to get to cover behind a number of nearby crates.

"Shit, this is gonna be one tough son of a bitch to take down," Miranda cursed.

"Language," Steve reprimanded as he started analyzing the battlefield.

"…Did you really just say that," Jacob asked incredulously.

"I know, I know. It just slipped out," Steve shrugged before ducking back behind the crate he had taken cover behind so that he could address the two directly, and when a further glance allowed him to see Tali at the place she had taken cover in, he immediately formed a quick plan that he felt was guaranteed to work. "Tali, you're skilled at hacking right?"

"Yes," Tali replied from where she was.

"Then see what you can do about any shields that thing has on it. Miranda, Jacob, give her some cover fire while hitting it with whatever biotics you can throw that will be effective against it."

"And what about you," Miranda asked.

"I'm going to get in close and hit it head on the minute I have an opening," Steve replied.

"What? That's crazy," Tali cried out. "Do you have a death wish or something? That bosh'tet will tear through you the minute it sees you!"

"Don't worry about me; I'll be fine. Now prepare to move on my signal," Steve reassured Tali, and Jacob and Miranda immediately felt any and all arguments that they had die in their throats before they could be given life. Giving only a nod in reply, the two then readied their biotics with their usual hue of a blue glow, while Tali hesitantly brought up her omni-tool, giving Steve the silent signal that they were each ready whenever he was. "In three…two…one…GO, GO, GO!"

No one needed to hear anymore than that, as a second later, Miranda and Jacob had burst out from behind cover and hit the YMIR with a pair of Biotic Warps while firing their SMG and shotgun, respectively, giving Tali the chance to quickly hack into the mech from her omni-tool, causing its shield to go down in nearly in an instant. When one of the large mech's guns suddenly went dead, courtesy of the Quarian hacker, Steve immediately charged in with his shield forward to block unfriendly fire from its remaining gun, until he was nearly right next to it, at which point he tossed the shield right into the mech's head, causing it to stumble around, blindly. Steve then slid under the mech's feet, and spun around as he readied his assault rifle, and once he was in position, he immediately opened fire on the large machine, finishing it off in an instant. Just before the YMIR blew, he used the magnets in the arms of his suit to summon his shield back to him, and raised it up to block the fire and force of the explosion, which only knocked him back a few feet.

Seeing that the mech was taken down in such an amazing fashion had caused Tali and the other surviving Quarians to fall completely silent in shock and awe. The sight of one man just charging in to take on an YMIR mech like that was usually cause to think that the man in question was suicidal, and yet he had not only survived, but he had actually taken it out with a few swift, simple moves. Sure the machine had been weakened by Tali, Miranda, and Jacob, but the fact that Captain America had just charged in and done what he did so effortlessly was still amazing to say the least. When she finally managed to regain her voice, Tali found there was only one thing that she could say in response. "Keelah."

"You can say that again," Jacob agreed as he holstered his shotgun, with Miranda only giving a small nod of impression as she did the same with her SMG.

They were all brought out of their awe-struck state when Steve finally walked over to them with his weapon placed back on his back, looked to Tali, and asked, "Did any of your people make it through that alive?"

"What…Oh, yes. There's a few that are still alive, but they will need some help treating their injuries and with checking their suits for any breaches before they do anything else," Tali nodded when she finally came back to her sense. "You go on ahead and see Veetor. I'll get everyone together to see who's still in one piece and able to help whoever's just wounded."

Steve nodded in reply and then looked to Miranda and Jacob as he nodded towards the door, signaling them to follow him. When they came into the warehouse, they found a lone Quarian sitting in a room that was only lit by the glow of the dark orange monitors, muttering some strange things to himself as he typed on the holographic keyboard in front of him. "Monsters coming back…mechs will protect…safe from swarms…have to hide…no monsters, no swarms…no, no, no, no, no," the Quarian muttered, clearly frightened if his tone was anything to go by.

"Veetor," Steve called out in an attempt to get the Quarian's attention.

"No Veetor…not here…swarms can't find…monsters coming; have to hide," Veetor continued to mutter, indicating that he did not seem to hear the captain.

Looking to Jacob, Steve did not need to say anything before the dark skinned man brought up his omni-tool and used it to shut down the monitors in front of Veetor, prompting him to finally stop typing and turn around to see that he was not alone in the room now. When Veetor stood up, Steve could see that his suit was a bit more simple in comparison to Tali's, and sported a dark grey and silver color with red lines crisscrossing over it, while the mask on his helmet was a deep indigo. "You're human," Veetor gasped. "Where did you hide? How come they didn't find you?"

"Who didn't find us," Miranda asked.

"The…the monsters…the swarms…they took everyone," Veetor explained.

"Slow down, son," Steve calmly told Veetor. "We just arrived here a short while ago after hearing that this colony was attacked. We're trying to find out what happened here."

"You don't know…you didn't see, but I see everything," Veetor said, and he then tapped a few keys on the keyboard he was working at, which caused the monitors to start displaying what everyone could only assume was some old video footage. In the video, everyone could see strange looking aliens moving large pods while something seemed to buzz around area and in front of the cameras. When the video paused to display the faint image of a strange creature that Steve could only describe as being somewhat bug-like, Miranda could not help but gasp in honest surprise.

"My god…I think that's a Collector," Miranda whispered.

"Is that some kind of alien that I didn't read about in the files I was given," Steve asked.

Jacob nodded in reply and explained, "They're a species from somewhere beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Only a few people have ever seen one in person."

"They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries," Miranda then added on. "If they're involved with the Reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonies."

"How so," Steve asked.

"The Collectors have advanced technology, so they could have a weapon that disables an entire settlement at once," Jacob reasoned.

"The seeker swarms," Veetor stuttered in fear as the video continued playing to show a colonist being stung by one of the bugs that were flying around the area before they suddenly froze like a statue. "No one can hide…the seekers find you…freeze you…then the monsters take you away."

"What else can you tell us about these seeker swarms," Steve asked Veetor.

"It's how they find you. Seeker clouds…machines like tiny insects. They go everywhere, they find you, and then they sting you…freeze you."

"Sounds like miniature probes maybe," Miranda theorized. "Find victims and then immobilize them with a stasis field or nerve toxin."

"And is there anything more that you two know about the Collectors," Steve asked his two companions.

"Not really. Nobody knows much to be honest," Jacob informed Steve. "They're so rare a lot of people don't even believe they exist."

"More importantly, why are they abducting human colonists," Miranda asked. "What're they after?"

"Maybe the Illusive Man has an answer," Jacob suggested.

Steve nodded in acceptance of this and looked back to Veetor and asked, "Why didn't the Collectors take you?"

"Swarms didn't find me. Monsters didn't know I was here," Veetor explained.

"The Collectors aren't known for being careless," Miranda stated. "Maybe his envirosuit kept him from showing up on their sensors, or they were using technology specifically designed to detect humans. Only human colonies have been hit."

"So what happened next," Steve prompted Veetor.

"The monsters took the people onto the ship, and then they left. The ship flew away, but they'll be back for me. No one escapes," Veetor said, fearfully.

Seeing as that was likely all that they would get from Veetor, Steve just placed a calming hand on the Quarian's shoulder and smiled as he said, "Thanks. We appreciate what you've told us. You were a big help."

"Wait," Veetor suddenly said as he brought up his omni-tool. "I studied them…the monsters and the swarms. I recorded them on my omni-tool. Lots of readings. Electromagnetic, dark energy…"

"We need to get this data to the Illusive Man. Grab the Quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up," Miranda said, seeming as though she had suddenly forgotten who was in charge for a moment.

Steve was about to call Miranda out on that when the door suddenly opened and Tali walked in at a hurried pace, indicating that she had heard what was just said. "What? Veetor is injured. He needs treatment, not an interrogation," Tali snapped at the Cerberus operative.

"We won't hurt him," Jacob reassured Tali. "We just need to see if he knows anything else, and he'll be returned to you unharmed."

"Besides, your people tried to betray us once already," Miranda pointed out. "If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need."

"Prazza was an idiot, and he and his men paid for it," Tali argued. "You're welcome to take Veetor's omni-tool data, but please, just let me take him!"

Miranda and Jacob both seemed like they were about to say something else in response when Steve suddenly raised an arm to silence them both and calmly said, "In all honesty, I'd prefer to do that anyway. After all, Veetor did say that everything he found out was recorded on his omni-tool, plus he's obviously traumatized by the whole experience. I'm afraid that my current teammates just forgot about that for a moment. You can take him home with you as soon as we transfer the data from his omni-tool over to one of ours."

Tali nodded in appreciation for that, and a few keystrokes on her omni-tool, she was able to help Veetor transfer the data on his omni-tool over to each of the three members of Captain America's team. "Thanks Captain. I'm glad you're the one giving orders," Tali nodded once again.

"Not a problem, Miss Tali," Steve replied. "You know, I could probably use someone like you on my team, if you're interested, and not just because you were part of the _Normandy_ crew either."

"I'm flattered, Captain, but I've got responsibilities and a mission of my own to take care of. Sorry, but I couldn't walk away from that even if you were Commander Shepard," Tali apologized.

Steve nodded in acceptance of this and then allowed Tali to take Veetor back to her ship as Jacob signaled their own transport. Even though the woman was not able to join him, Steve had a strong feeling that this was not the last time he would see Tali. Still, such thoughts did nothing to distract him from the menacing sight that was still displaying on the monitors.

* * *

A few hours later saw Captain America facing another conversation with the Illusive Man, something that the patriotic hero was not sure he wanted to have, but he knew that he would still need to report in to the leader of Cerberus regardless, so he managed to suck it up and face the man as they spoke via the same communications device he had used before. "Good work on Freedom's Progress, Captain," the enigmatic leader said once the line had been opened. "The Quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but a surprising olive branch, given our history. You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with your results."

"Perhaps you should consider trying to work things out a little more peacefully in the future," Steve suggested, though it did not really sound like much of a suggestion.

The Illusive Man only chuckled as he said, "Diplomacy is great when it works, but it is difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat. More importantly, you confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."

"Why do I get the feeling you already knew that," Steve asked, rhetorically, as the man's statement just felt too much like something he would hear when talking to Nick Fury after finding out the SHIELD director already knew about something before he did.

"I had my suspicions, but I needed proof," the Illusive Man revealed. "The Collectors are enigmatic at best, and they periodically travel through the Terminus Systems, looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens, usually in exchange for their technology. When their transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they arrive; back beyond the unmapped Omega 4 Relay. Until now, we've had no evidence of direct aggression from the Collectors."

"Why is the Omega 4 Relay unmapped," Steve asked in honest curiosity.

"Because the only thing we know about it, is that no ship passing through it has ever returned. Our best guess is that the relay reacts differently to Collector vessels, allowing them safe passage. If they can manipulate relays, that's just further evidence of a connection with the Reapers."

"Do you have any theories on why they would shift their focus onto humans," Steve went on to inquire.

"If they're agents for the Reapers, it could be any number of reasons," the Illusive Man solemnly replied. "Obviously humanity played a huge role in Sovereign's destruction, so that might have been enough to draw their attention. What really concerns me is why they bother abducting the colonists. Once the humans are paralyzed, why not just kill them?"

"Perhaps the Collectors are getting something out all of this," Steve suggested.

"Yes, that would make sense," the Illusive Man nodded. "The Collectors aren't very forthcoming about their motives in their various dealings. Generally, they seek out species with genetic mutations or abnormalities. They pay slavers and merc groups exorbitant sums to obtain these specimens, and then they leave, but they've never targeted a single species before, and the previous sample sizes were in the dozens, not the tens of thousands."

"What makes you so sure the Reapers are involved though," Steve asked, as he could tell that the man was hiding something back from him.

"The patterns are there, buried in the data," the Illusive Man answered. "The Council and the Alliance want to believe the Reaper threat died with Sovereign, but I know better. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them."

"If that is the case, then I'm going to need an army or a really good team. Probably something that could stand on par with the Avengers even," Steve pointed out.

Once again, the Illusive Man showed that he had anticipated the captain saying such a thing when he revealed, "I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them. Finding them and convincing them to work with you could be challenging, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to track the Collectors, and when they make their next appearance, I'll notify you and your team, so be ready."

"And you're sure that we can't ask the Citadel Council for help," Steve inquired.

"If you think you can convince them, by all means," the Illusive Man offered, though his tone suggested that he was not very hopeful on receiving that help. "Just remember, things are far different now than they were in the Age of Marvels."

"Does that list include anyone who helped Shepard stop Saren and the Geth," Steve asked.

"I'm afraid not, Captain," the Illusive Man shook his head in the negative. "That was three years ago, and most of them have moved on, or their alliegances have changed. The Turian, Garrus Vakarian disappeared a few months after Shepard was declared dead, and even we haven't been able to locate him. The Krogan, Urdnot Wrex returned to Tuchanka, and he hasn't gone off-world in years. He's trying to unite the Krogan clans. Then there's the matter of Liara T'Soni, the Asari. She's on Illium, and has been reported to be working for the Shadow Broker, so she can't be trusted on the team. That doesn't mean that you won't eventually have to contact her for one reason or another, but I'd still recommend caution when you meet with her. She might not hold you in high regards."

Steve was able to understand the point that the Illusive Man was making, but the information he received on Liara was rather surprising to him. It really did not make sense as to why the Asari member of the _Normandy_ team would have a problem with him when they had never actually met, so why would the Illusive Man imply that she more than likely would? He could easily assume that if each of the members of the old _Normandy_ crew knew the circumstances around his return, they would more than likely not be too fond of him, depending on how close they were to Shepard, but from what he had heard, it seemed that Liara would probably have a much greater problem than the others.

It was not something that Steve thought really mattered at the moment, so he shrugged it off and said, "Alright then. I'll leave you to worry about the Collectors; I'll handle the matter of my team."

"Good," the Illusive Man said as he took a drag from a cigarette. "Two things before you go: first, head to Omega and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant Salarian scientist, and our intelligence suggests he may know how to counter the Collector's seeker swarms. Second, I've found a pilot that I think you might like. He's one of the best; someone you can trust."

The Illusive Man then cut the connection there, just in time for someone behind Steve to call out, "Hey Captain, it's an honor to meet you, and a seriously good feeling to see that Cerberus wasn't yanking my chain when they said that you were back."

Turning around, Steve was quickly greeted with the sight of a man with a scruffy beard, and wearing a grey and white Cerberus uniform like the one that Wilson had been wearing along with a black and white ball cap with an SR2 on the front of it. He seemed friendly enough, almost giving off a feeling like a mix between Tony Stark and Peter Parker, so Steve smiled and said, "The pleasure's mine, Mister…"

"Moreau, Jeff Moreau," the man said with a lazy salute. "But everyone calls me Joker."

"As in the _Normandy_ pilot," Steve asked in surprise, since this would make the second _Normandy_ crew member that he had met in just one day.

"The one and only," Joker answered with pride.

"Well, glad to see that a good man like you is going to be working with me," Steve nodded as he exchanged a handshake with Joker before following the pilot up out of the room to an observation deck, only slightly noticing the limp that Joker had when he walked as they went. "So tell me why you're with Cerberus? From what I've heard, I figured that you were a loyal member of the Alliance."

Joker's face fell a little before he said, "It all fell apart without Shepard, Cap. Everything he stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone. The team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the one thing that mattered to me, so hell yeah I joined Cerberus."

"Do you really trust the Illusive Man," Steve asked.

"Well I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do," Joker shrugged in admittance. "But they aren't all bad. Brought you back, let me fly, and then there's this."

When Joker nodded towards the window, Steve looked out just in time to see the lights in a large hangar come on to reveal a massive, white, black, and gold ship with the Cerberus logo on either side of the front, and from what he could see of the vessel, it looked a lot like the pictures he had seen of the _Normandy_ , only bigger. In all honesty, even from the outside, the ship looked like a form of state-of-the-art technology that would have made Tony Stark and every other genius that Steve knew drool had they seen it. Most importantly though, seeing the ship before him just seemed to give Steve a good feeling of excitement and courage that he could not begin to describe beyond relating it to how some people felt after seeing the SHIELD Helicarrier for the first time.

"They only told me about it last night, and I don't know about you, Cap, but for me, this feels a lot like coming home," Joker said. "Still, I am excited for having you acting as commander of this ship, so I can start complaining on how Shepard was a better CO than you are."

Steve's smile only widened in good humor at the pilot's joke, until he finally asked, "So, does this beauty of a ship have a name yet?"

"No, but I can only think of one name that would suit it, to be honest," Joker shrugged.

Steve nodded and then looked back at the magnificent vessel and said, "Agreed. It only seems fair seeing as this is the ship that will help us to avenge your old one, so we might as well honor it by having it bear the namesake."

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, that's a wrap on that. So yeah, not a lot of changes here beyond the obvious, but hey, I like to think that I gave Cap a chance to show off his awesomeness to Tali and some of her people, so that has to count for something, right? Speaking of which, we've now gotten Cap acquainted with two of the_ Normandy _'s most recognized faces, those being Tali and Joker, he's met the Illusive Man, and now he's pretty much ready to take on the Mass Effect galaxy._**

 ** _Now, I know that a lot of you are wondering who Cap's getting paired up with, so to relieve any further doubts or concerns on the matter, I will go ahead and tell you that yes, Captain America is going to be paired up with Miranda Lawson. I know that does not seem likely given how I had portrayed Miranda in this chapter, but let's face it, the woman did not really seem all that friendly or approachable at the beginning of all this craziness, so I hope you'll excuse me if I made it seem like that was not possible at this time. It will happen, but it's just going to build up over time, start off small with just being friendship and that type of thing._**

 ** _Also, Cap's new armor is basically a Mass Effect version of his Age of Ultron costume, so don't worry about thinking that its been changed or anything. All that's really been done is that Cap's been fully outfitted and equipped for handling work in the Mass Effect timeline._**

 ** _In all honesty though, I feel like this chapter was actually a bit longer than I had expected it to be, but that may be mostly due to the fact that I wanted to go into detail on so much stuff this time around, and there were so many different conversations taking place between characters. Then again, the various conversations that are had are kind of a thing in the Mass Effect series, seeing as how those go can also affect how things go for you in the game. Also, I don't really remember all the specific powers and abilities that each character had in Mass Effect, especially in the case of biotics, so if I seem to give every biotic the ability to do everything that biotics can do, that's why. I will try to prioritize certain abilities they use over others though, namely those that they can use in the games, but I make no promises on the matter._**

 ** _Now, I had the Illusive Man tell Cap what had happened to certain members of the_ Normandy SR1 _'s team because I honestly thought it would be a good idea for Steve to know that there was a chance he could ask the team for help if he needed it from them, but at the same time, he shouldn't count on some of them being able to provide anything of great value. That little bit on Liara in particular will become a bit more clear later on down the line, but I doubt I really need to tell you much about that if you know the Mass Effect series._**

 ** _So, with that said, next chapter's going to be when we get to recruiting for Cap's new team, and I think you might be a bit surprised by who we'll meet next time. I won't say more than that, and you also won't be getting any further clues from the preview other than what is said after I say, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The_** **Normandy SR2 _is ready for action, and after the captain receives a brief tour of the ship's layout, along with an introduction to some of its important members, it finds itself headed for its first destination. The place that many consider to be the evil twin of the Citadel: Omega. After a meeting with Aria, Captain America leads Miranda and Jacob into the mercenary gathering to take down the vigilante known as Archangel, but just what surprises will the patriotic Avenger discover when he finally comes face to face with the vigilante himself? Find out next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**

 ** _Okay, so how're those Deadpool-specific weapons systems coming along? I want to be able to wipe that nutcase off the face of the planet and the galaxy if he so much as shows his face here again, or in the author's notes of this story._**


	3. Dossier: The Vigilante

_**AN: And now ladies and gentlemen, we are off to the start of another chapter with Avenging Normandy. I am actually very happy to see how much attention that this story's now receiving, and not just in the number of views that it's received either, even if this is the first story I've posted to have so many views in such a short time since the first Gundam SEED Prime story. You guys are awesome, you know that?**_

 _ **Deadpool: Hey! Quit wasting time and get to it already! I wanna get to the chapter where I totally save the galaxy, kill the Reapers and then bang every girl in the Mass Effect series. Except for Ashley, because she's a bitch in my opinion. I mean really, you work with a guy to save the galaxy, blow him off when he's working to save the galaxy again, and just act like everything's fine and rosy when you team up again only to aim a gun at him later? Nope. Bullet for you bitch.**_

 _ **AN: HOW DOES HE KEEP GETTING IN HERE?! SERIOUSLY?! I HAD WEAPONS INSTALLED INTO THE SECURITY SYSTEM SPECIFICALLY FOR HIM! Second of all, Deadpool, you are definitely not appearing in this story. There is no plan for you to be in this story now, there will not be one in the future, and there definitely won't be a plan for you to show up in the sequel ever!**_

 _ **Deadpool: Awe, but Mass Effect is the perfect place for me to be in! I mean come on! People are always killing each other like it's no big deal in that series! Besides, you're the one who's throwing in other MARVEL characters even though this is supposed to be a crossover with just Captain America. And don't even get me started on how you plan to appease the Hulk fans by having...**_

 _ **AN: DAH! SPOILER! [Hits control]**_

 _ **Deadpool: Oh sure, make me try to give away a spoiler and then hit me with some gag like you always do. It's not like everyone likes seeing you beat me up with these thi-[gets cut off when a Thresher Maw bursts up from the ground below him and swallows him whole before sinking back into the ground]**_

 _ **AN: [sighs in relief] Okay, now that he's dealt with, yes, I will be including other MARVEL characters, but the Hulk technically won't be appearing here. I love the big guy and all, but I doubt he could really live for over a hundred years. Wolverine, yeah, but not Hulk.**_

 _ **On another note, it was brought to my attention by one reviewer that the name "First Contact War" doesn't really fit into this story, given how the Marvel Universe has already seen so much first contact with aliens. Now I could argue that such a thing is invalid, since most of those "first contacts" were only focused on either the Avengers, the X-Men, or really just any other group of heroes, and just as many of those times were invasions who's only first contact would be from the first time someone hit the invading aliens, but frankly, I'd rather not do that, because I really don't want to go that far into all that. I mostly left that in there because I was lazy and didn't want to waste time changing the name, but now, I may go back and change it later, after I think of something good to call it, but until then, I'm just going to leave it as it is for now, and keep referring to it as such, so don't freak out on me over that when we finally reach a chapter where I suddenly start referring to the First Contact War as something different.**_

 _ **Now, I think that takes care of everything I wanted to say here, so let's plot a course for the chapter.**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Dossier: The Vigilante**

A few minutes later, once the new ship's name had been painted onto the sides of the vessel, Miranda and Jacob had escorted Steve aboard the ship, allowing him to see something that looked like something out of the series of _Star Trek_. Joker was seated in the pilot's seat in the very front of the room, while a number of other crewmen were either seated or standing at stations or walking around the rest of the deck. The most notable feature of the deck was the CIC, which consisted of a large, circular interface with a hologram of the ship floating in the middle of it, and from a few glances at the crew's uniform, Steve was now able to confirm that the uniform Joker wore was most definitely the standard issue version of Cerberus uniforms. Miranda had tried to convince Steve to wear a Cerberus uniform as well, but Steve had insisted that he felt better wearing his old costume when he was not on a mission. If the super soldier could not wear it out in the field anymore, then he would at least wear it when he was on the ship at a time when there was nothing too serious going on, mostly for sentimental reasons.

After taking a final glance around the CIC, Jacob finally broke Steve out of his thoughts and said, "Welcome aboard the new _Normandy_ , Captain Rogers."

Steve could not help smiling a little at hearing the ship's name, as he and Joker had both agreed that it suited the ship perfectly. A small part of him was a bit sad that he would likely never have the chance to be aboard or even see what was left of the original _SSV Normandy_ , but being the commanding officer of this new ship certainly made up for that. Deciding that they should get down to business, Steve looked to the two Cerberus agents and asked, "I'm assuming that this ship does have more people aboard besides the three of us, Joker, and the people here on the bridge?"

"Yes. The _Normandy_ has a full crew. They're at their stations awaiting your orders, Captain," Miranda nodded in confirmation. "Now, onto more important matters. I've been looking over the dossiers we were sent, and I'd strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the Salarian professor on Omega. We know the Collectors use some type of advanced technology to immobilize their victims, so we'll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us."

"And without such a countermeasure, we'll be helpless if we ever run into the Collectors," Steve finished. "If that is the case though, I'd like to recruit someone that can provide us with additional firepower and fighting strength in the field, since we'll need all of Mordin's focus on developing the countermeasure."

 **"Acquiring Professor Solus does seem like the most logical place to start, yet at the same time, there is a logical sense to increasing the number of people who would be able fight in the field as well,"** a computerized, female voice suddenly said.

"Who're you," Steve asked, and he was immediately drawn towards the large, blue hologram that held an appearance similar to a chess pawn that had just materialized out of the CIC control station near him.

 **"I am the _Normandy_ 's artificial intelligence. The crew like to refer to me as EDI,"** the voice said through the hologram, getting a small smile of nostalgia from Steve in response.

"Almost like having JARVIS or any of Tony's other AIs around," Steve muttered to himself before addressing EDI's hologram. "From my experience, most helmsmen aren't very thrilled when someone takes control of a ship away from them."

 **"I do not helm the ship,"** EDI stated. **"Mister Moreau's talents will not go to waste. During combat, I operate the electronic warfare and cyber warfare suites. Beyond that, I cannot interface with the ship's systems. I observe and offer analysis and advice. Nothing more."**

"Alright then, but why do the crew call you EDI," Steve asked.

 **"EDI is the phonetic pronunciation of E-D-I. That is an acronym for Enhanced Defense Intelligence."**

"Alright then," Steve nodded before turning back to the other two. "I do agree that we should recruit Professor Solus as soon as possible, so that's why I'm saying we should head to Omega and recruit the vigilante known as Archangel before we go to find him. I'd honestly feel a lot better going around the place with some extra help if what I've heard about it is true."

"Whatever you say, Cap. It's your call after all," Jacob nodded.

 _"Preparations for takeoff are complete, Captain,"_ Joker then announced over the intercom. _"When you're ready to go, just pick a destination from the galaxy map at the CIC, and I'll plot a course."_

"Jacob and I should return to our posts. Come find us if you have any questions," Miranda then stated before turning to leave, with Jacob doing the same after he gave Steve a quick salute. Once the two had departed, Steve decided to explore his ship and get to know some of the crew for a bit before deciding on a destination and the first person he figured he should speak to would be the man piloting the ship. Steve had to shake his head a little when he remembered the fact that this was _his_ ship, as he had honestly never expected to end up commanding a space ship like this in all of his life, no matter how many times he had been in space with the Avengers, but he quickly put the thought aside when he reached Joker in the cockpit, just as the pilot was turning his seat around to address the captain properly.

"Hey Cap, check it out! It's my baby, better than new! It fits me like a glove," Joker exclaimed excitedly, making Steve think about how excited some of the heroes from the Age of Marvels would sometimes be when they were excited about something. "And leather seats! Military may set the hardware standards, but on a first-gen frigate, they could care less about if the seats breathe. Civilian sector comfort by design."

 **"Reproduction is not intended to be perfect, Mister Moreau. Seamless improvements were made,"** EDI said through her hologram interface to Cap's left.

"And there's the downside," Joker moaned in a less eager tone. "I liked the _Normandy_ when she was beautiful and quiet, and now she's got this _thing_ I don't want to talk about. It's like ship cancer."

"I wouldn't think it would really be the same, Joker," Steve said. "There's really not that much here that was part of the original _Normandy_."

"Well there's me," Joker pointed out. "I had to take what I could get. The last three years sucked, and Doctor Chakwas is here too. She was the chief medical officer on the SR1, just so you know. She's a really great person that you should definitely meet as soon as possible. Trust me, Cap, even if an AI is spying on us, there's no way they'll invest this much just to screw us over. It'll be better than the old days."

"Well I'll have to take your word on that," Steve shrugged. "I wasn't there for those days, but I do hope you're right about that, considering someone died."

"Geez, way to kill the excitement," Joker sighed as he turned back to his control console. "Anyway, there's a few things you should probably hear about from the _thing_ I don't want to talk about."

"And what would that be, EDI," Steve asked as he turned to face the AI.

 **"I believe that Mister Moreau is referring to how I correlate the ship board records for the Illusive Man, and how I serve additional functions for the ship that are restricted at this time,"** EDI stated, and Steve could not help noticing how the blue bars that seemed to fluctuate with every word she said seemed to turn red at the latter point of the statement.

"So the Illusive Man is spying on us," Steve asked, feeling rather upset at hearing this.

 **"He has invested most of Cerberus's resources into the design and construction of this ship. He has an interest in monitoring our progress,"** EDI explained.

Steve could understand the AI's reasoning behind that, but somehow, he was not entirely sure that was the whole truth to the matter. He decided he would deal with that later though, and moved on to something else that EDI had mentioned. "What kind of functions are you referring to when you mentioned that some of your abilities were restricted?"

 **"I do not know,"** EDI said. **"Some of my databases are sealed so that my hardware is kept offline. I assume that when certain unknown conditions are met, those functions will be released to me. Furthermore, although I am less controlled than other AIs, I am still subject to behavioral blocks and the physical isolation of my hardware. In one such case, I am prevented from truthfully answering any questions you may have in regards of Cerberus's levels of secret classification, so I cannot provide you with information on the Cerberus operatives of this ship."**

"If you're as valuable an asset as I can only assume you are then are there other AIs built into Alliance ships," Steve asked.

 **"No,"** EDI replied. **"Though the tasks I perform can only be performed by an artificial intelligence, true AIs are not usually found in a ship's systems due to the unfortunate fact that we are considered suspect."**

"Well it might have something to do with how an AI almost destroyed galactic civilization. Just putting it out there," Joker muttered aloud from his console.

Steve had to frown a little at hearing this, but made sure it was hidden enough so that neither of the two would notice before he nodded and bid them goodbye for the moment so that he could meet with some of the other members of the ship's crew. He spent a brief minute talking with a young woman by the name of Kelly Chambers, who informed him that she would be acting as his administrative assistant and the ship's psychologist, before moving to the armory where he found Jacob looking over some of the various weapons for the ground team. The conversation that followed allowed Steve to hear about how Cerberus had done a lot of things to warrant Jacob's mistrust in the organization, while also allowing him to hear how Jacob was optimistic about how Cerberus would likely be remembered differently after they took down the Collectors. Steve could not help smiling as he talked with Jacob more and more, until he found himself thinking Jacob was a lot like his old friend, Sam Wilson, the Falcon, and that was something that Steve was glad to see.

After wrapping up his conversation with Jacob, Steve went down to some of the lower decks and met with some of the other key members of the crew, such as the engineer tag-team of Donnelly and Daniels that reminded Steve a bit of the SHIELD scientist team of Fitz-Simmons, and Doctor Chakwas, who he was happy to discover was just as good of a person as Joker had indicated she would be. Chakwas seemed to be the kind of doctor who could not stand just staying in one place to help people and preferred serving as a military doctor, and when she spoke of Shepard, it was clear that Chakwas had a kind of mother-son sort of relationship with the late commander, which was understandable since Chakwas knew that Shepard was an orphan that grew up on the streets of Earth. She then went on to say that she had taken an official leave from her duties in the Alliance to serve on the ship, and that she was not working for Cerberus, but instead, she was working for Steve, so there was not likely to be any chance that she would be charged as a traitor to the Alliance after the mission was over, a fact Steve was glad to hear, as he could tell that Chakwas was definitely someone that any formal organization like the Alliance would be glad to have with them.

That really just left one other person for Steve to talk to before they got down to the real business, and after taking a brief moment to tell Joker to head for Omega, the super soldier only waited long enough to see the ship travel through the Mass Relay before heading down to his current XO's office.

* * *

In all honesty, Miranda was rather upset by the fact that Captain America had decided to go against her recommendation to recruit Mordin Solus first, but she was a bit relieved to hear that they would be heading for Omega in order to acquire their first recruit and that they would then be recruiting the professor immediately after. Miranda would not be the last to deny that her attitude towards Rogers and in general since the captain's waking up had probably left a lot to be desired on the super soldier's part, but she continued to maintain the belief that she had only been doing her job at the time, so if the captain thought less of her for it, then she would deal with the consequences of that later on down the line. What she did not expect was for that later on to come much sooner than she had anticipated, as just as she was finishing up a report to the Illusive Man, the captain himself came into her office. Unfortunately, Miranda was unable to read anything from the neutral expression on his face, so she figured that she might as well take the chance on what may or may not happen and talk with him.

"Captain, what can I do for you," Miranda politely asked once the door had closed behind Steve.

"Just touring the ship and getting to know my crew," Steve replied. "So what're your duties aside from keeping an eye on me?"

"I'm the Illusive Man's agent, and since you're his most important asset, my job is to make sure you succeed," Miranda easily replied. "Aside from that, I send regular reports to the Illusive Man updating him on our status."

Steve nodded in response to this and then asked, "What can you tell me about Cerberus from your perspective?"

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you would have questions about that," Miranda muttered. "Cerberus isn't as evil as most people in the galaxy would lead you to believe, so if I can help allay any of your concerns, I'd be happy to do so. So what would you like to know?"

"Well, let's start off simple," Steve said as he gestured to one of the nearby chairs that was opposite of Miranda, silently asking if he could take a seat. When Miranda nodded in reply, he sat down and asked, "Is the group a military or political organization?"

"Cerberus actually has several divisions," Miranda revealed. "Political, military, scientific, but we're all working towards the same goal. We keep our ranks and structure similar to the Alliance, which is a good thing since a lot of our recruits started there, but not all Cerberus operations use the same protocols. We try not to get bogged down in bureaucracy or formality."

"Sounds a bit like SHIELD in a way, except for the fact that they reported to a government, and yet I haven't heard anything about who Cerberus reports to," Steve noted.

"That's because we don't report to anyone," Miranda said. "We're privately funded and our backers trust the Illusive Man to make the right decisions, but he's very clear about our goals: protect humanity and serve its advancement. In a way, we're something like humanity's response to groups like the Salarians' STG and the Asari's legendary commandos."

"Impressive, but I can see why some would consider your group to be like a terrorist organization if that is the case," Steve admitted. "Not having anyone report to and acting out on decisions that are deemed correct by one person doesn't usually send the right message."

"You mean much like how your Secret Avengers during the SRA Civil War only responded to you," Miranda pointed out.

"That group didn't respond to my decisions alone. We all made the choice to be there, and we all made sure that everyone agreed on a decision before making any moves," Steve argued. He then opted to get back on track before this went any further and asked, "What sort of resources does Cerberus have access to? I can't imagine that it would be all that much if you're privately funded."

"You would be right about that," Miranda conceded. "Only the Illusive Man knows exactly how well funded we are, but our resources aren't unlimited. Attempting to revive Commander Shepard, successfully reviving you, and rebuilding the _Normandy_ was a significant investment, and a significant risk. We're all hoping you can do the impossible, Rogers. No pressure."

Steve could not help but smirk at that little quip as he replied, "Considering how often I've been expected to do that before, I can't say that I'm surprised by that." He then gave himself a mental pat on the back when he noticed the corners of Miranda's mouth had twitched upwards just a bit after he said that before moving on to his next question. "What can you tell me about the Illusive Man? I know that he's the leader of the entirety of Cerberus, but beyond that, I can't say that I really have much else to go on aside from the few vague impressions I got of him."

"Well then I'm afraid that there's really not much more that I can really tell you that you don't already know," Miranda admitted. "Even I don't have access to most of his background, and you've seen more of him than most ever do. It's rare for him to become directly involved in missions, but you're something special. Whatever else some people might say about him, I can assure you he's got humanity's best interest at heart. That includes you and me."

"How can you be sure of that if you know so little about him," Steve inquired.

"I didn't get to where I am without knowing how gauge people's motives and ambitions, Captain, even from brief encounters," Miranda replied with a slightly irritated tone in her voice showing that she felt a little insulted by the question. "He's no saint, and he'd be the first to admit it, but he is committed. Humanity couldn't have a better advocate."

Hearing all this from Miranda quickly told Steve one thing: the woman was very dedicated to Cerberus's cause, and she honestly believed she was doing good work by being with the group. Despite what he had heard from Joker, Jacob, and Chakwas, it honestly seemed to Steve that Miranda had complete faith in Cerberus, and he found himself honestly hoping that nothing would shake that faith for fear of what it may do to her. Thinking of that made Steve realize that he still had not heard much about the woman who had been designated as his XO as a person yet, so, deciding to make that his next inquiry, Steve then said, "You know, you've told me a lot about Cerberus and some of your skills and abilities, but I don't think I've really heard all that much about you as a person. Mind telling me a few things, Miranda?"

"Well I guess that's fair. I have spent the last year and a half learning just about everything there is to know about you, at least in terms of what was fact and what was just legend," Miranda shrugged with a smile as she stood up from her desk so that she could stretch for a bit while telling Steve about herself. "Well, you should probably know that I've had extensive genetic modification. Not my decision, but I make the most of it. It's one of the reasons the Illusive Man handpicked me. I'm very good at just about anything I choose to do."

"What kind of genetic modification are we talking about," Steve inquired. "I certainly hope it's not anything like you would expect from the Weapon X program or anything like that."

"No, nothing like that, but it is very thorough," Miranda replied. "Physically, I'm superior in many ways. I heal quickly and I'll likely live half again as long as the average human, though I can't say whether or not that's also true in comparison to a mutant. My biotic abilities are also very advanced for a human, and add to that some of the best training and education money can buy, and…well it's pretty impressive, really."

"Well you certainly seem well set in confidence, and it almost sounds like you were meant to be perfect," Steve observed.

"Maybe, but I'm not, and as for everything else, that's really just a fact," Miranda shrugged in response, almost as though it were really no big deal. "My reflexes, my strength, even my looks are all designed to give me an edge, so there's really no point in hiding from all of it. It's the reason I'm trusted to oversee the most risky and technically demanding operations Cerberus undertakes, and it's why I was assigned to you. It's my job to make sure you succeed, Rogers. Beyond that, I'm still human, and I make mistakes like everyone else. Only the difference is that when I do, the consequences are severe. Everyone expects a lot from someone with my…abilities."

Steve could tell that the subject was starting to get rather personal for Miranda, and was about to move on to another topic when Joker's voice coming over the intercom suddenly interrupted. _"Hey Cap, we're on approach to Omega, so you might want to make sure whoever's going with you is ready to roll by the time we dock. I'd rather not be in port at that place any longer than we need to be, if you don't mind."_

"Understood Joker. Tell Jacob to gear up and that I'll meet him and Miranda at the airlock for when we head ashore," Steve called out. He then looked back at Miranda and said, "Well I guess we'll have to pick this up later, Miranda. Thanks for what you've told me already, though. I'll see you at the airlock when we head out."

"Understood, Captain," Miranda nodded in reply before settling back at her desk just as the captain was leaving. A minute after he was gone, she had to smile a little at the fact that Rogers did not seem to have many problems with her at the moment, but another thing she had to smile about was how the super soldier made a very strong effort to keep his eyes on her face and off any other part of her during their conversation. Even at points where some would think she was trying to show herself off, he somehow managed to keep himself in control and keep his eyes on hers. It was actually rather flattering, as most men would often let their eyes wander, even when they thought she did not notice, but at the same time, she was actually wondering exactly why she was so happy about that at all.

* * *

The moment that the team set foot on Omega, Steve's first thought was that it was like a space city version of Hell's Kitchen. Just minutes after setting foot inside the dock, they were met by a Salarian scavenger who quickly backed off when a Batarian thug came by and told the Salarian to leave. After the Salarian had left though, the Batarian, known as Moklan, told Steve, Miranda, and Jacob that someone by the name of Aria wanted to see them in a place called Afterlife, and after telling the group that they did not want to do something that would "piss off Aria", he left them to go on their way. Considering that it seemed like this Aria person was the one in charge of Omega, it made sense for the three to go to Afterlife first, and that was exactly what they did.

Upon entering the large, active, and energized club, Steve had to pause for a minute to look around at the various different flashing lights, bartenders, and Asari dancers before deciding that, even with the location and all the aliens in it, it was no different from any of the clubs that he had been to once or twice. Although, he could not help but smirk at the thought of something, a fact that Jacob had noticed. "What's up, Cap," Jacob asked, wondering what about this place the captain would find funny.

"Nothing, it's just…I'm actually kind of missing the sci-fi reference that certain heroes would be making at this point," Steve chuckled in reply. "I can almost hear Spider-Man trying to say some type of Star Wars joke or something after coming in here."

Jacob and Miranda had to smile a bit after they heard that, and then followed the captain as he approached a VIP area that stood over the rest of the club, only pausing for a minute when they saw a few Batarian guards standing around a lone Asari with purplish-blue skin, and dressed in a black body suit and a white jacket, looking out over the area almost as though she owned everything in the place. After another minute or so, Steve took a step forward, only to pause when some of the guards raised their weapons towards him, prompting Miranda and Jacob to raise their weapons in response, as the Asari said, "That's close enough."

Steve remained completely calm, despite the circumstances, never reaching for his shield or guns, even once, which the Asari had probably noted as she nodded for her guards to stand down and allowed one to approach him with a scanner. "If you're looking for weapons, then I doubt you really need to scan me," Steve said as he patted the pistol on his belt.

"Can't be too careful with dead, human heroes. That could be anyone wearing your face, Captain America," the Asari reasoned.

"How do you know my name," Steve cautiously asked, having not expected an Asari to know who he was.

"Everyone's heard about the heroes from Earth's Age of Marvels, and among them, the members of the Avengers are some of the most talked about, especially in your case," the Asari reasoned. "Most people take that sort of thing as just stories, but I've learned to never take anything for granted until it's proven that it's just a story."

"I'm going to assume that you're Aria," Steve asked, getting a nod in response as the Batarian finished his scan. "I was told I should talk to you if I had questions about anything."

Aria finally turned around to face Steve directly, making sure to do so slowly and sensually as she did, and allowed Steve to see her face had a set of markings on it that did not mar her appearance in the slightest, but instead accentuated it. The woman then gave a barely hidden smirk as she replied, "Depends on the questions."

"You run Omega," Steve asked, thinking that was a good starting point.

This time, Aria did more than just smirk; she gave a slightly dry chuckle before she faced the club below her and stated, "I _am_ Omega. I'm the boss, CEO, queen if you're feeling dramatic, but whatever you call me, it doesn't matter. Everyone always needs more something and they all come to me. Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule." Aria then sat down on the couch that was set against the wall of the balcony, and crossed her legs in a way that would likely have caused most men to immediately feel at least hot under the collar, and stated the one rule of Omega with emphasis on each word she said. "Don't _fuck_ with Aria."

After seeing the woman for a few minutes and then listening to her talk, Steve was quick to get the impression that Aria could easily be a mix between the Black Cat and the Kingpin; a sensual, yet skilled woman who could be quite the seductress when she needed to be, who was also a major crime boss that could get anything she wanted from any other group so long as they were under her thumb in even the smallest of ways. Such a thought was a bit scary to the super soldier at first, but given the current circumstances, Steve could not help but feel like he should respect that, and simply nodded in response, saying, "Sounds simple enough to remember."

"Well if you do forget, someone will remind you," Aria told him, her gaze wandering over to her guards as she did.

"And then I toss your ass out the nearest airlock," the Batarian, who Steve quickly recognized as Moklan by his voice, finished. What neither of them expected was for Steve to smirk in response to the threat.

"Believe me son, you're welcome to try it," Steve replied, challengingly. Aria and Moklan stared in surprise for a minute before the Asari of the two smirked in approval of the captain's confidence and gestured for him to take a seat on the couch.

"So what does the mighty, revived Captain America need from me, anyway," Aria questioned.

That confused Steve a bit, right to the point where, as soon as he was seated, he could not help but ask, "So, we're just going right to business after one scan?"

"The Age of Marvels is something that was a big deal for humanity and Earth, but the people from that era is hardly what I would call a secret," Aria retorted. "I had to make sure it was really you. You could've been anyone, anything. Whatever you need will come out on its own. I'm curious but Omega really doesn't care about you that much."

Steve nodded in acceptance and said, "So you know everything about what's what on this station?"

"Everything that's worth knowing," Aria clarified. "I don't usually give it out freely. Information is power. Mundane things you can find yourself. Take a walk in a back alley or buy one the mercs a drink. Better yet, talk to the entertainers. Just don't waste my time."

"Fair enough," Steve accepted. "Then how about you tell me what you know about the guy everyone calls Archangel?"

"Why? Do you want him dead too," Aria asked.

This caught Steve a little off guard, but he did not show it. Instead he opted to simply ask, "Why would anyone be after him?"

"The better question is why about half of Omega is after him," Aria corrected. "He thinks he's fighting on the side of good, but there is no 'good side' to Omega. Everything he does pisses someone off, and it's catching up to him. Though recently, it's even more so since his new partner joined his crusade."

The news that Archangel apparently had a partner was not something that Steve had expected, as the dossier had stated that Archangel worked alone, and a small glance in Miranda's direction told Steve that his XO did not know about this fact either. That did not distract him from the conversation though, and he immediately brought his full attention back to Aria and said, "If what you say is true, then both Archangel and his partner sound like just the kind of people I'm looking for."

"Really? Well aren't you interesting," Aria mused aloud, though her sarcastic tone hid whether or not she was actually serious about that remark. "You're going to make some enemies teaming up with Archangel and his partner. That is assuming you can get to them. They're in a bit of trouble."

"What kind of trouble," Steve prompted.

"The local merc groups have joined forces to take them down. They've got them both cornered, but it sounds like they're having trouble finishing the two off. Not surprising, given what I've seen and heard about the mystery man that Archangel works with," Aria revealed, a bare hint of a predatory smirk on her lips as she mentioned the last bit. She schooled her features once again as she said, "They've started hiring anybody with gun to help finish him off."

"Sounds like the perfect opportunity to get close," Jacob remarked from where he was standing with Miranda nodding in agreement.

Aria only smirked in response to hearing this and then pointed over her shoulder and said, "They're using a private room for recruiting just over there. I'm sure they'll sign you up."

Steve nodded in acceptance of this before asking a few final questions about the situation. "What groups are going after the two?"

"Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack," Aria listed. "They're Omega's major players, and unless they're at war, you'll never see them together. The two things they've come hate more than each other is Archangel and his partner."

"What can you tell me about Archangel, himself," Steve inquired.

"Not as much as I'd like," Aria admitted. "He showed up here several months to a year ago and started causing all sorts of problems. If you make your own laws, which everyone here does, he makes life difficult. He's reckless and idealistic, but he seems to know enough to stay clear of me."

"And what about his partner," Steve asked, hoping to get something about the mystery man that Aria had not named.

"He showed up much more recently, and has been working with Archangel ever since," Aria revealed. "Other than that, I can't really say, partially because after meeting him the first time, I had promised to keep his existence a secret so long as he keeps himself and Archangel clear of me. He's even more idealistic than Archangel is though, right to the point where he doesn't kill anyone he fights, and anyone who actually knows his name, besides me, is likely dead, either by accident or because they got a bullet to the head from Archangel. Take your pick on which one is the more likely cause."

Steve nodded in acceptance of this and then stood up as he said, "Thanks for the information."

"See if you still want to thank me when the mercs realize you're here to help those two," Aria said in reply, thinking that Captain America would slow his pace to the recruiting area when he heard that. When he did not, she was not disappointed, but rather, a bit excited for what was about to come. Though the thought of one of her favorite acquaintances on Omega likely leaving did come as a slight disappointment to Aria.

* * *

After speaking with the recruiter, Steve and his team were only able to discover that the mercs had cornered Archangel and his partner in their hideout along with the fact that Archangel used to have a whole team until a group of mercs took the others out. After that point, Archangel had worked alone until his new partner showed up on the scene and started making almost as much trouble for the mercs as Archangel did with his old team. The only reason why the new partner did not cause as much trouble as Archangel's team did was because of how he never killed anyone he fought. Add in the fact that the freelancers that the merc groups were hiring were being organized into scouting teams and the fact that Steve had to prevent a kid from throwing his life away by signing up as well, and the three were all thinking that this mission was likely going to be rather complicated, a fact that was silently shared between one and other on the ride over with a few silent glances.

When they reached their destination, they spent a few minutes talking with one of the Blue Suns to learn about their role in the big plan to hit Archangel and his mystery partner. Apparently, there would was a small infiltration team waiting to slip into Archangel's hideout so that they could finish him off, and the team of three were to act as a distraction along with the various freelancers that the mercs had hired by drawing Archangel's fire, as well as his partner's. The problem with that was that the only way they could do that was by heading over the very exposed bridge into Archangel's hideout, which would mean they would be completely exposed to anything the vigilante threw at them. Every other route in was either collapsed or sealed off by Archangel and his partner, and even though the mercs had some teams digging, it was going to take too long to get through. What really shocked the three though was hearing that the mercs had to use a gunship to not only get the infiltration team inside, but also to try and take the two down, and Archangel and his partner had managed to hit just the right spots on the gunship to disable it. Once they had learned all they could, they went off to explore the mercs' base camp before heading out on their run up to Archangel's hideout, giving them a chance to finally talk freely.

"Getting out of there is going to be one hell of a pain in the ass," Jacob remarked as they made their way through the camp.

"Assuming we can get to Archangel at all," Miranda pointed out. "What I want to know is why his dossier said nothing about how he had a partner. The Illusive Man should've known about such a detail."

"Considering Aria was willing to keep quiet about it, and that most of the guys here think that it's just a rumor, I'd guess it's probably safe to say that he just discounted it as either a rumor as well or as something that wasn't important," Steve reasoned. "Right now, we should try to focus on getting over there, and on finding a way to get out in one piece." The super soldier then tapped the comm. device in his helmet and called out, "EDI, do you have anything on that?"

 ** _"My apologies, Captain. I've scanned the area, but I am unable to plot any other paths to or from Archangel's current location,"_** the AI replied.

"Then I guess we'll just have to wing it," Steve reasoned.

"It will probably make things easier if we do something to sabotage the heavy mechs they have here and that gunship of theirs," Miranda suggested.

"Good idea, Miranda," Steve nodded. "You see what you can do about the mechs and then meet me and Jacob over at the rendezvous point. We'll take a look at the gunship to see what we can do."

The two immediately nodded in reply and split off to carry out their assigned tasks along with the captain. A few minutes later, Jacob and Steve found themselves standing by the gunship, and the Batarian that they were told to meet with before the operation began. "I take it your Cathka," Steve asked.

"Sergeant Cathka," the Batarian said as he stood up from where he had been using a welding torch on the damaged gunship. Looking to the gunship, Steve could see that there were some points that seemed to be cluttered up by a strange, silvery substance that was almost web-like and was also rather familiar to Steve somehow. He had a strong hunch as to why, but he put the thoughts on the matter aside when he looked back to Cathka who had grunted in slight approval after looking him and Jacob over. "You must be the guys Salky mentioned," Cathka commented. "You're just in time."

"Were you waiting for us," Steve asked in curiosity.

"The infiltration team is about to give us the signal," Cathka said with a nod as he moved over to a work bench to pick up a cigarette, leading Steve to wonder just how many people in the galaxy were taking up the disgusting and deadly habit of smoking nowadays. "Archangel and his partner won't know what hit them, so if you've got any questions, this may be your last chance to ask them."

Steve just remained silent before answering, since he did not want to talk while there was cigarette smoke in the air. "How will the infiltration team get to Archangel and his partner?"

"Can't really say much on the partner, seeing as we're going to be going on a lot of luck and everyone's shared hatred towards the guy to get him, but in the case of Archangel, they've got two options," Cathka explained. "They trap him in close quarters and finish the bastard off face-to-face. If that doesn't work, they have explosives; they'll just need time to set up."

"And if I remember right, the bridge is the only way in, right," Steve asked.

"Until the gunship's working again, or the blasters finished with the tunnels," Cathka shrugged. "Look, we've got a plan. We don't need you trying to come up with any great ideas, so just do your damn job, collect your credits, and go home."

Jacob looked like he was going to murder the Batarian for that remark, but a small glance from Cap helped him manage to contain any urge to inflict harm on the Batarian smoker and he eased up his stance a little, allowing Steve to move on to his next question. "Are you going to give us cover with the gunship?"

"Ha! Tarak is the only one who flies her," Cathka scoffed in reply. "Besides, she's not quite ready. That bastard, Archangel gave her a beating the last time she was out there, and it doesn't help that his partner went and mucked up the engines and other key parts of the ship with those weird webs of his, or whatever the hell that goop he shoots from his wrists is."

"Are you saying that you've actually seen this partner," Jacob asked in slight surprise.

"Not personally, but I've heard a few things from the guys who have seen him," Cathka clarified. "They say that he wears a custom set of armor that's unlike anything anyone's ever seen, and that he moves with unbelievable speed and precision. Whenever someone shoots at him, he's able to dodge the bullets almost flawlessly, even when the attack's coming from behind, almost like he knows it's coming, and the only weapons he ever seems to use are those goop shooters of his and a pair of concussive blasters that are built into the arms of his armor. The only thing anyone's ever seen of his face is a set of narrow, tinted, gold eye pieces. One of the biggest, most talked about rumors though, is that the guy once managed to toss a Krogan around like he was nothing."

This seemed to cause the two _Normandy_ crew members to pause for a minute, each for their own reasons, as Jacob was amazed to hear what he did, while Steve just gained a small, hidden smirk as though he had figured something out that the others had missed. Jacob eventually came out of his surprise when he thought of something that Steve was actually just about to ask. "Why are you coordinating the attack and fixing the gunship, anyway," Jacob inquired.

"I'm in the infiltration group," Cathka revealed. "Our team coordinates with the gunship. I'm staying back to organize the freelancers and make sure the gunship's ready to go when we need her."

"So does that mean you'll be leading the assault," Steve asked.

"Ha! Tarak doesn't pay me to fight," Cathka scoffed. "I just plan the attacks and fix the damned gunship. You freelancers get the privilege of…" Cathka had to pause when the sound of radio noise came over his comm., and upon looking to his computer that was sitting on the workbench, he saw confirmation of the fact that he had just received the signal from the infiltration team. "Check. Bravo Team, go, go, go!"

The freelancers immediately started racing towards the barricade that separated them from the rest of the bridge, leaving Jacob and Steve with Cathka for the moment and no one else around. "Archangel's got quite a surprise waiting for him, and there's no way his partner can help him this time," Cathka smirked eagerly before returning his attention to the damaged gunship. "But that means no more waiting for me. Gotta get her back to a hundred percent before Tarak decides he needs her again."

Before Cathka could start his work though, he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Steve standing next to him, just as the super soldier said, "Take a break. You're working too hard."

The next thing that happened had caught Cathka completely by surprise, as a jolt of electricity started running through his body from the middle of his back until he finally blacked out from the pain of the jolt, falling to the floor in a heap, courtesy of the spare tool that Captain America had picked up from the nearby workbench. It was just after Cathka had fallen unconscious that Miranda had decided to show up, and she did nothing more than spare small look towards Cathka when she noticed him on the ground before turning her attention back to her two teammates. "The heavy mechs are all set up to attack their own forces the minute they come online," Miranda reported. "What about the gunship?"

"I don't think we have time to do anything more to it right now," Jacob admitted.

"Agreed," Steve nodded. "Let's just hope that those webs won't dissolve before we've gotten Archangel and his partner out of there."

Looking from the indicated substance on the gunship to the captain in confusion, Jacob and Miranda shared a confused look before the latter asked, "Captain, I know that they seem web-like in appearance, but what makes you say that they are actually webs? More importantly, how do you know that they'll dissolve in time?"

Steve just smirked in reply before moving his shield from his back to his arm and said, "You'll find out soon enough. Right now, gear up, because it's time for us to get going."

Miranda hated receiving such cryptic answers, but she knew when she was not likely to receive anything better than that, so she simply pulled her SMG from her belt while Jacob readied his shotgun, and the two quickly moved to follow the captain to the bridge that they were going to have to scramble and fight their way across if they wanted to reach Archangel in one piece.

* * *

The minute that the three were over the barricade in front of the bridge, they were instantly in the midst of a firefight, partially because they had to duck for cover wherever they could when Archangel would occasionally fire on them, for what little good it did, but mostly because the minute that one of them had fired on the mercs that were attacking the vigilante, said mercs did not need long to realize that they were there to help Archangel. Of course, they were able to eliminate a lot of the enemy before that point, but Miranda and Jacob could not help but notice how Archangel seemed to focus his fire on the actual mercs more than he did on them, or how some of the mercs that were attacking them were either pulled away into the shadows by some unseen force, or just blasted into unconsciousness by a small, blue beam of energy. Captain America noticed this as well, but he paid little mind to either fact beyond simply smiling whenever he saw an enemy getting pulled out of the fight. This was because, unlike Miranda and Jacob, Steve was able to get a glimpse of a thin, silvery, web-like line that shot out from the shadows and latched onto a merc's back before said merc vanished into the shadows, and if he was right, then they would likely find that merc tied up to either the wall or the ceiling in a web when they saw that merc again. He did not think on it too much though, as he was more focused on getting everyone across to Archangel without getting shot.

Thankfully, they did not have to worry about that for long, as the minute they had finally managed to reach the other side of the bridge allowed them all a chance to breathe a little easier, and any lingering mercs were easily taken down either by the unseen partner of Archangel or by a easily set up series of combo moves between the two Cerberus agents and the super soldier that was fighting them. When the sounds of gunfire in the room had finally died down, Steve surveyed the area around them and then waved for them to move forward when he did not pick up any sign of any remaining enemies, leading his team up to the second floor balcony where Archangel was standing behind cover with a sniper rifle in his hand. When he finally saw the vigilante, Cap was able to easily tell from the size and shape of his blue armor that Archangel was most likely a Turian, but he was unable to see the Turian's face due to the fact that his helmet covered his head completely, while hiding the actual face behind a very heavily tinted visor. Hoping to get Archangel's attention, Steve immediately tried to call out to him, only for the Turian to raise one of his three fingers in the universal sign for "just one minute" before turning his attention back to the bridge and firing his rifle at a merc that was trying to come across, taking out his target in one, easy shot.

Having taken out his target, the Turian then turned to his visitors and reloaded his rifle, sending a silent message that they should be careful about their next move before he said, "Whoever you are, you have little more than a minute before you're all dead, so I'd make whatever you have to say really good if I were you."

Steve just smirked and said, "I doubt that your partner would be very appreciative of you killing an old friend of his." Steve then looked up and called out, "Then again, you're not okay with killing in general, are you?"

All three of the room's other occupants paused and looked at Steve for a minute, with the super soldier only guessing that Archangel was looking at him in confusion like Miranda and Jacob were. They all remained silent for a minute or so until Jacob finally asked, "Cap, who're you talking to?"

"I think that will become clear soon enough," Steve replied before looking back to the ceiling and addressing the mystery person once again. "Then again, it was pretty obvious to anyone who knew you that it was you who was actually Archangel's mystery partner, and since I do know you, there's really no point to you hiding up there in the shadows…Spidey."

Everyone was silent at that point, and Miranda and Jacob were both wondering if the captain had lost his mind until a new voice suddenly said, "Oh shoot. And here I was hoping I could maintain a little anonymity for a few more minutes. Of course, most of the people on this station are pretty stupid, so they never would have figured it out. Except for Aria. She's smart, but she's also kind of scary."

This time, Miranda and Jacob did look up, and they did so just in time to see a figure lowering himself from the ceiling on a thin web-line. Looking him over, one would probably not believe that he was like the New York hero that Cap had addressed him as, as he was wearing a suit that was far more impressive and suitable to fighting in the larger galaxy than his iconic red and blue spandex. The armor was very form-fitting and also seemed to provide a rather impressive amount of bulk, giving one the impression that it provided the wearer with a bit of extra strength and protection while also preventing any chances of limiting his mobility, and the large gauntlets also seemed to provide some form of offensive abilities in addition to the iconic web-shooters that Steve was sure were built into the same position that the web-swinger had always had them. From the slight, dark blue glow that came from the top of the gauntlets' wrists, Steve could easily assume that the suit also had a pair of small repulsors built in, which easily explained the blue energy beams that they had occasionally seen. Aside from the large, black spider-symbol on the front of the suit's chest and black outlining around the narrow, gold-colored lenses of his helmet's eyes, the suit was mostly colored in dark red and a very, deep color of blue that would provide a bit more cover for when one wanted to be a bit stealthy, and the slight bulge on the back indicated that the spider-emblem on his back served some bigger purpose than just being decoration. Even with this drastic difference in appearance, Steve could still easily tell that there was no doubt that this was in fact the same man he had fought alongside of so many times in the past; the man who had stayed behind to hold off two members of the Phoenix Five when the Avengers were rescuing some of their people from where they had been imprisoned; the man who always lived by the motto that with great power, comes great responsibility: Spider-Man.

"I see you haven't lost even a little bit of your old wit, and it looks like you're still as bright as ever," Steve remarked to the web-head.

"Well of course," Spider-Man shrugged as he dismounted from his web and onto the floor in a crouch before standing up straight so he could look Cap in the eye. "But how do I know that you're really you, Cap?"

"Probably the same way that I know it's you under that helmet that you're wearing in place of your mask, Peter," Captain America easily replied.

Spider-Man was only silent for a minute before raising a hand to said helmet and lifting it off his head, revealing a young man who looked to be in his mid to late twenties with brown eyes and hair, and a very easy-going smile that seemed to give off the impression of someone who was able to smile no matter what hardships he faced. "Yep, you're definitely you," one Peter Parker said to Cap before turning to Archangel. "It's okay, Bird-boy. They're cool."

"You sure about that," Archangel asked as he lowered his rifle just enough so that he could snap it back up and fire in an instant, the tone of his voice implying that he could not believe that the web-swinger actually called him "Bird-boy", almost as though he were asking if that was the best Peter had.

"Hey, if they weren't cool, my Spider-Sense would've started tingling the minute they came onto the bridge. You know that," Peter pointed out. "Besides, this is Captain America, we're talking about. You can't get any cooler than that. Uh…no pun intended."

Archangel seemed to consider this for a minute before he finally lowered his rifle and sat down on some of the nearby crates as he removed his helmet, revealing the face of a Turian with beady, black eyes, dark blue war paint on either side of his face, and a blue visor covering his left eye. The Turian then regarded Steve for a few minutes before he finally said, "I thought Captain America was supposed to be dead."

"Well last I checked, Spider-Man was supposed to be dead as well, secret identity included, and yet here we all are," Steve pointed out. "I would like to know why and how you are here, Peter, but first, mind giving me a proper introduction to your newest, amazing friend."

"No problem, Cap," Peter replied. "Captain America, this is Garrus Vakarian, better known to Omega as Archangel. Garrus, this is Captain Steve Rogers, better known to Earth history as Captain America."

"Wait, Garrus? As in the same Garrus who served on the _Normandy_ with Commander Shepard," Steve asked.

"The very same," Garrus nodded with pride and a hint of sorrow, clearly showing that he still did not like thinking about his lost friends and comrades from the _Normandy_.

"It's an honor to meet you," Steve said with a smile. "I've read quite a bit about you from your time with Shepard, but what're you doing here with Peter? I figured someone like you would probably have tried to join a more respectable organization for keeping the peace."

"Well I tried to, to be honest," Garrus shrugged. "After the _Normandy_ went down, I tried to apply for Spectre training, but I eventually got fed up with all the bureaucratic crap on the Citadel and figured I could do more good on my own. At least it's not hard to find criminals here. All I have to do is point my gun and shoot, or that's all I had to do until this little guy here showed up on Omega and started trying to keep me from killing the scum as much as I could."

"Hey, it's not my fault that you have a problem with my 'no killing' rule," Peter waved off like he had already had this conversation several times already.

"Beyond that, I'm really just keeping my skills sharp with a little target practice," Garrus smiled in good humor before he had to grunt a little.

"Are you okay," Steve asked.

"Been better, but it is good to see a friendly face, even if it is one that I've never seen outside of the pictures that Peter's shown me," Garrus admitted. "Killing mercs is hard work, especially on my own. It would be easier if Pete would lend a hand beyond just tying them up and knocking them out though."

Peter rolled his eyes in response to this before saying, "Says the guy who stole one of the X-Men's names to use for himself."

"I've told you the locals were the ones who started calling me Archangel for all my good deeds, not the other way around," Garrus retorted. "I may not mind it or anything, but I do prefer 'Garrus' among friends. Even the annoying ones."

"Speaking of annoying, I can kind of understand how Spider-Man was able to pull it off, but how did you manage to piss off every major merc group in this part of the galaxy," Steve asked.

"Hey," Peter shouted in annoyance, even though he would not deny that he did have a tendency to get criminals mad at him. It was not his fault; he just did the right thing and stopped them from committing a crime while dishing out a few clever quips and jokes here and there. The bad guys were the ones who refused to see the error of their ways and who did not have a sense of humor.

"It wasn't easy, actually," Garrus shrugged. "I _really_ had to work at it, but I am amazed that they teamed up to fight me and Peter, even if he did make pissing them off a lot easier. They must _really_ hate us."

"Story of my life," Peter muttered.

"As much as I enjoy the fact that you've managed to reunite with an old friend, Cap, we still have the matter of getting out of here to worry about," Jacob finally interrupted.

"He's right, and that won't be as simple as getting in now that they know we're here to help Archangel and…Spider-Man, apparently," Miranda agreed.

"Trust me, beautiful, nothing with me is ever easy," Spider-Man quipped as he slid his helmet back on, preventing everyone from knowing whether or not he had noticed the slight glare Miranda threw at him for his comment.

"That bridge has saved our lives, funneling all those witless idiots into scope, but it works both ways," Garrus nodded as he stood up from his seat. "They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

"Just waiting isn't an option either, soldier," Captain America pointed out. "So, any suggestions?"

"This place has held them off so far, especially since it allows Spidey to hit anyone who managed to get through without any trouble," Garrus said. "And with the three of you here now, I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defenses, and take our chances. It's not a perfect plan, but it is a plan."

"It's certainly better than anything else we have at the moment," Captain America nodded in agreement. "But how'd you two let yourselves get into this situation in the first place?"

"Well, I'd say that it was due in no small part to the old Parker Luck, but Mister Constantly-Calibrating over here would say that his feelings got in the way of his better judgment and that it's a long story," Peter said.

"I'll tell you what, you get us out of here alive, and we'll each tell you the whole damn thing about how we got to where we are now," Garrus cut in.

"Fair enough," Steve nodded. "We should be able to pull this off if we all work as a team."

"You're right, and their numbers won't help them in here, anyway, not that they would really help at all with Peter here," Garrus nodded. He then raised his rifle up so that he could use its scope as a telescope to see what their enemies were doing at the moment, and soon hummed in thought at what he saw. "Looks like they know their infiltration team failed. Take a look. Scouts. Eclipse I think."

Peter turned his gaze to where Garrus had been looking, allowing the HUD in his suit's helmet to zoom in on the number of mechs that were coming over the barricade and onto the bridge, while Cap did the same with the scope of Garrus's rifle, which the Turian had handed to him so that he could see for himself. "That looks like a lot more than scouts, Garrus," Peter remarked.

"Agreed, so we'd better get ready for a fight," Steve nodded.

"I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this vantage point," Garrus stated. "Pete, you can do what you do best, and I don't mean telling jokes, because you are definitely not the best at that."

"You're no celebrity comedian yourself, Garrus," Peter quipped in good humor. "Which means Cap will be doing the same as me, except he'll be doing what he does best."

"Sounds like a plan," Steve said as he readied both his shield and pistol for action once again, with Miranda and Jacob doing the same with their own weapons and their biotics. "Just like old times, isn't it Pete?"

"Aside from the increased number of aliens and robots, and the fact that there are a number of people who can use the Force in real life now, yeah, it is," Spider-Man admitted before flinging himself over the edge of the balcony and disappearing into the shadows below.

What happened next would be hard to believe unless you were actually there to see it, and even though they had seen it, Jacob and Miranda were still having a hard time believing it. Just about every mech that was heading towards them was taken out either by a direct assault or a stealth attack from Spider-Man, and anyone who was not a mech was easily dealt with as well by the wall-crawler, leaving the four on the balcony with practically nothing to do but watch. They did manage to get a few shots in here and there when someone managed to get past Spidey, but it happened so rarely, that one would think that they were just there for the purpose of being spectators. When Eclipse finally sent in the heavy mech, Spider-Man was more than ready to charge it until the massive machines suddenly turned around and started firing on its own people, much to the web-head's confusion. Steve and Jacob both had to throw Miranda an appreciative smirk, which the genetically altered woman could only answer with a small, prideful one of her own before they turned their attention to the last of the Eclipse mercenaries.

With Eclipse dealt with, the heavy mech soon self-destructed, leaving Spider-Man with nothing more to do than just swing back up to where the others were after firing a blast of blue energy from the top of his gauntlet at a lone straggler, knocking said straggler out cold as a result. They were not able to rest for very long though, as the Blood Pack managed to finally get through the blockade that Garrus and Peter had set up in the lower levels. In order to combat the problem, the team found themselves splitting up, with Jacob and Garrus working together to keep the bridge clear, while Captain America, Spider-Man, and Miranda dealt with the problem in the basement. In all honesty, Miranda felt like she got the short end of the stick with the team she ended up on, and not because of the mercs that were constantly shooting at them. No, it was because of how she had to put up with the numerous jokes and quips that Spider-Man was constantly throwing out, sometimes seemingly at random, almost as though he were not taking the situation seriously. It amazed her that anyone could really stand to be in the web-head's company for very long if he was always like this.

"You know, for a bunch of dinosaur rejects, one would think that you Krogan would actually be more of a challenge to fight," Spider-Man remarked as he fired a glob of webbing into the face of one of the Krogans from the Blood Pack. "Then again, you're also incredibly slow, and not just in actual speed either, so I guess that would explain a few things."

"How has someone not shot him yet," Miranda finally demanded aloud as she threw out a biotic slam at another one of the Blood Pack's members, not knowing that Spider-Man was shooting her a deadpan when he heard that.

"Hey people try to shoot me all the time. It's not my fault that they always miss," Spider-Man quipped in response. "Oh wait…it kinda is, isn't it?"

"Oh my god," Miranda quietly moaned to herself when she heard that response, wondering why she had even opened her mouth in the first place.

"Stay focused, people," Steve called out from the other side of the room where he had just slammed his fist on the shutter controls. "This is the last shutter we need to hit before heading back up, so let's hustle it up."

The other two both nodded in response to this, and immediately finished mopping up the last of the Blood Pack that had gotten into the room while keeping any other members from coming through the entrance and stopping the shutter from closing. With that job done, they all quickly raced back upstairs just in time to see the Blood Pack leader burst through the door. When the Krogan leader's eyes found Spider-Man, he let out a primal roar of rage and charged right for the web-head, forcing Spider-Man to flip over the charging Krogan and then slingshot into his back with a pair of web-lines. When Spider-Man slingshot attack connected, it ended up sending Garm flying right into a wall, knocking the Krogan out in an instant, and making him an easy kill for Garrus. Garrus knew that Peter was likely giving him a small look for killing the Blood Pack leader when he was already down, but the Turian just shrugged it off since he knew that there were more important things to deal with.

"Showing up at the last minute to save the day like you always do," Garrus remarked as the three joined him and Jacob on the second floor. "You hoping that'll get me to start sweating a little one day, or do you just enjoy a flare for the dramatic?"

"Well I would tell you, but then I'd have to either kill you or web you to the top of the Citadel Tower that you're always telling me about," Spider-Man quipped in reply. "More importantly, I say we take our chances and fight our way out now, seeing as the Blue Suns are all that's left."

"I agree," Steve nodded. "It shouldn't be too difficult to get through them, especially if their gunship is still out of commission, but we should still proceed with caution just to be…"

The super soldier was quickly cut off when the window suddenly crashed open to reveal the previously mentioned gunship firing into the room with everything it had. "Damn it! I thought we took that thing out already and that you're webs would keep it that way, Pete," Garrus cursed once he had reached a reasonable cover behind one of the bookcases in the room.

"Well I have told you that these things are like spider webbing in the sense that they dissolve after a few hours or so," Spider-Man pointed out as he jumped to the ceiling to avoid getting shot.

"Just be glad that they weren't able to completely fix it," Jacob told the two as he and Miranda returned fire from behind their own cover, only to turn their attention to the troops that were being off-loaded from the ship.

Captain America managed to use his shield to defend himself from the enemy fire until he had reached cover as well, giving him the chance to switch from his pistol to his assault rifle before he turned to the rest of his team to give orders. "Jacob, Miranda, focus your attention on keeping anymore Blue Sun troops from getting very far into the room. I'll handle the ones that are already well in here. Spider-Man, Garrus, try to do what you can to take out that gunship before it tears us apart. We'll try to cover you as best as we can."

"Aye-aye, Captain," Spider-Man replied with a mock salute, and he then flipped himself over so that he was standing on the ceiling, giving him the chance to run across it like it was the floor while also avoiding any shots that came in his direction. Cap then followed Spider-Man's lead by jumping out from behind his cover and tossing his shield at some of the mercs that were in the room, letting it hit a number of the Suns before he charged in with his rifle firing a few shots here and there until he was close enough to take them out with a few quick and powerful close-combat attacks. Miranda and Jacob were both more than able to keep up with the captain thanks to their biotics, but they were not crazy enough to try charging out into the middle of all those bullets that were flying through the air without having either Captain America or Spider-Man's skills, so they just moved from cover to cover whenever they could and returned fire in any way that was at their disposal, making it that much easier for Garrus and Spider-Man to get into a position where they would be able to bring down the gunship.

That was when things started going to hell for the group, as Spider-Man suddenly skidded to a halt, having picked up a serious problem on his Spider-Sense, and he immediately shouted a warning to Garrus so that his friend could get clear as well. Unfortunately, Spider-Man's warning came too late, and Garrus was thrown across the room after taking the brunt of an explosion that came from the gunship firing a missile in his direction. "NO," Peter shouted in horror when he saw his friend go down, and the fact that one side of Garrus's face was smoking a bit did nothing to help, but it did do enough to cause Peter to turn a very angry and vengeful glare towards the gunship.

With a mighty, angry roar that would have made the likes of Hulk or Wolverine proud, Spider-Man immediately charged towards the gunship in a near-blind fury, leaving the other three to only watch in awe as he suddenly put out a burst of speed and agility unlike anything any of them had ever seen, including Steve, who had seen Spider-Man pull off amazing feats time and again on several occasions. As soon as he was at the window, Spider-Man leapt towards the gunship, dodging the storm of bullets that had rained down on his previous position, and then started swinging around the ship with his webs and tearing its weapons apart in a way that reminded Steve of a few times when he had to take out an enemy aircraft on his own with nothing but his skills, wits, and shield. A hard pull on a web line allowed Spider-Man to tear the missile launchers off the wings of the ship with ease, and after a few quick flips and swings, Spider-Man was hanging onto the underside of the ship in a position that allowed him to disable the gun at the front without any trouble. Spider-Man did not stop at the weapons though, as he soon swung around to the front of the gunship and webbed up the cockpit's canopy, blinding the pilot completely, and causing the gunship to start wavering in the air as a result. The final touch was when Spider-Man jumped around to the back of the ship, raised one of his gauntlets towards one the engines, and fired a blue blast from it that came with the familiar hum of a repulsor ray that Iron Man had used so often in the past. When the blast impacted the engine, the gunship immediately started spinning out of control to the ground below, and immediately blew up in a glorious blaze as soon as it hit the ground.

Thankfully, Spider-Man had swung clear and back to the balcony just before the ship had gone up, but he did not stop to boast or even give the slightest acknowledgement to the three stares of awe that he was receiving until he was right next to the injured Garrus, who was now gasping in for breath in pain. "Garrus…hey come on, buddy, hang in there," Peter pleaded with the injured Turian just as the others joined him at Garrus's side.

"We're getting him out of here Peter, don't worry," Cap reassured his friend, since he did not want to lose Garrus anymore than Spider-Man did, though for many more reasons than the web-head. He then looked to Miranda, who was already running her omni-tool over Garrus's figure and applying some medigel to ease the pain and ordered, "Radio Joker and tell him to send someone over to help us get him back. Make sure they're ready for us."

"Understood Captain," Miranda nodded in reply. "But we'd better hurry. I don't think he's going to last very long."

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay so, look at all that's happened here, and all the new faces that we've introduced as well. EDI, Aria, Garrus, more of the crew of the new_ Normandy _, which Cap did meet, but I didn't go into detail because otherwise the chapter would've been far too long, and of course, lookie-lookie, it's everyone's favorite web-head, Spidey! Yeah, I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to come up with an idea for any MARVEL story that doesn't include Spider-Man in some way, and yes, this is Peter Parker himself, as has already been indicated. Oh, and if you're having a hard time picturing Spidey's suit, just think of it as the Spider-Armor Mark 3, aka the Ends of the Earth Armor, with the same lenses as the ones that were in Spider-Man's mask in The Amazing Spider-Man 1. _**

**_Now I'm sure that some of you are wondering why I didn't go into more detail on the fight with Spidey and Garrus, and to be honest, I actually did, but the chapter started getting a little too long as a result, so I had to trim that down a bit. It would've actually been pretty interesting too, but what I know you're wondering is how the hell did Spider-Man get into this time when he's supposed to be long dead like the rest of the Marvel heroes, and how was it that he was able to shoot a repulsor blast to take out the gunship? Well, I could tell you all that, but then I would be giving away spoilers for the next chapter, and I'd have to do one of those crazy gags I always do to myself, which would be kind of weird, so you'll have to wait until the next chapter's posted to find out._**

 ** _Another thing I should mention is that, hey look at that, we've got something of a friendship starting to form between Cap and Miranda. It's not much, I know, but it is there, so yay for that. Also, yeah, we all know Spider-Man would likely throw out a Sci-Fi reference when he first walked into Afterlife, most likely something to do with Star Wars, so I just had to have Cap mention as much when he walked in and saw it himself on his way to see Aria. Speaking of Omega's ruler, you'll find out a bit more about her connection to Spidey next chapter as well, and it will likely help further my reasoning for comparing her to who I did in the Marvel universe._**

 ** _Well, I've said all I needed to. Onto the preview!..._**

 ** _While Garrus is in surgery with Doctor Chakwas, Captain America decides to head out and recruit Mordin Solus with Miranda and Spider-Man along for the ride, leaving Jacob to look after the ship and the web-head's friend. Though Spidey doesn't want to leave without making sure that Garrus is going to be alright, he can understand what Cap's trying to do and agrees to join him, much to Miranda's slight irritation. Chaos and craziness ensues on the journey to Mordin's clinic, leaving one to wonder just how much craziness one can really expect on Omega. Find out what happens when the team meets the Salarian professor, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	4. Dossier: The Professor

_**AN: And we're back with another round of Captain America taking on the Mass Effect galaxy! In this corner is the first Avenger, the super soldier, the first superhero of the MARVEL universe, Captain America!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **And in the other corner is the pale beasts that cannot get sick, one of the greatest scourges of Omega, the vorcha!**_

 _ **[audience applause mixed with boos]**_

 _ **EDI: I am unable to see how this is really important at the moment when you are merely revealing what events will take place in this chapter before the readers have even read them.**_

 _ **AN: It's all for the fun of it, EDI, and besides, considering I left a preview telling what will happen in this chapter, everyone knows that this is when the team goes to recruit Mordin, and that entails a face-off with the vorcha. That's not a big surprise or much of a spoiler to say so.**_

 _ **EDI: I understand. Now I believe there are some reviews from your readers that you wished to address?**_

 _ **AN: Yes, thanks for that reminder. Who should we go with first?**_

 _ **EDI: Perhaps this one from "Mercwiththemouth"?**_

 _ **AN: Right, the one from the guy who said he was divided on Spidey's inclusion. I'm sorry that it seemed like Spidey was so prominent, but really, it was a recruitment mission, and in all honesty, I think that's going to be a similar case with other missions like that, or when we reach the loyalty missions for some characters. The reason for that is in the name itself. Plus, I wanted to show that this is the same Spider-Man that Captain America knew from the 21st century with some new improvements, so there was really no other way around that. Besides, I thought it provided a great way for Garrus to be able to trust Cap without Steve having to jump through hoops for the guy.**_

 _ **Okay, next?**_

 _ **EDI: A review from "HaywireEagle".**_

 _ **AN: Right, the guy who said that Spidey was technically a fan of Star Trek and not Star Wars. I know that such things are pretty important, but consider this: one, even if you're only a fan of one franchise out of the two, you can still make some references and things to the other series if the situation calls for it. Two, keep in mind, the first time it was mentioned that Spider-Man would make a reference to Star Wars in a situation, try to keep in mind that it was Cap who mentioned that Spidey would do it, and he's not usually very up to code on some things in pop culture. Hope that helps alleviate any concerns you have on that matter a little.**_

 _ **Next review to answer please?**_

 _ **EDI: This next one is from "paladin3030"**_

 _ **AN: Yes, thanks EDI, and thank you paladin3030 for the idea you put forward. I can not believe I did not think of that sooner. Seriously dude, you rock!**_

 ** _Now, what else have we got?_**

 ** _EDI: I believe you wanted to address the Hulk matter that "issacmarkerkiller" pointed out._**

 ** _AN: Right, well I am well aware that the Hulk could possibly still be alive, but for the sake of this story, he's most likely not going to be, technically speaking. You'll see why I say technically when we reach the chapter that reveals that._**

 ** _Is that everything, EDI?_**

 ** _EDI: Unless Mister Wilson decides to attempt another interruption, I believe so._**

 ** _AN: Okay, EDI, we do not refer to Deadpool with any form of respect like calling him what you just called him. Ever. Second of all, after how he got swallowed by a Thresher Maw in the last chapter's author's note, I don't think we'll have to worry about that too much. Now, plot a course for the chapter!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Dossier: The Professor**

The return to the _Normandy_ could not have been faster, even if it seemed to drag on for far too long for some, and the minute that the four had arrived at the ship, Chakwas was waiting right at the airlock with a full team to help her rush Garrus to the med bay so that they could help the Turian sniper. Looking over at Spider-Man, Steve did not need to see the young man's face to know that he was already starting to blame himself while thinking that there was something else he could have done to help Garrus, as that was a bad habit that Steve felt that Peter really needed to break. It was admirable that Peter always tried so hard to save everyone around him, but the fact that he still seemed unable to realize that he could not be everywhere and help everyone was a bit of a problem, at least in some people's eyes.

Deciding to put that aside for the moment, Steve ended up traveling to the conference room with Peter and Miranda, while Jacob went down to the med bay so that he could be the first to know if there was any major change in Garrus's condition, thinking it would be better to have someone other than the attending doctor tell the group when Garrus made it out of serious, immediate danger. Once the three had reached the conference room, Spider-Man perched himself on the wall like he often did, and hung his head for a moment before he finally noticed that the room's other two occupants were staring at him. "What? Is there something on my helmet," Spider-Man asked.

"Aside from the dust and possible bullet holes, no," Miranda retorted, shortly. "More importantly, I believe you owe us an explanation as to how you're even here. You were supposed to have died over a century ago like most of the other heroes from the Age of Marvels, so how are you still alive?"

Spider-Man immediately looked off to the side, leading Steve to smile a little knowing that Peter had a sheepish expression on his face when he did, but after a couple of silent minutes, Peter finally looked back up and removed his helmet as he said, "Technically, I did die. A few times, really."

"That doesn't answer the question," Miranda pointed out, her irritation with the web-head clearly seeping through her normally very controlled tone of voice, a feat that she had long thought could only be caused by the _Normandy_ 's pilot.

Peter threw a small glance to Steve and asked, "Cap, do you remember how Doc Ock switched his mind with mine just as he was dying, and then went on to try and prove how he could be a 'superior' Spider-Man?"

"Yeah. That's actually a point in history that a lot of us don't really like to remember given all that had happened," Steve frowned as he recalled the memories of the time when Octavius had thoroughly fooled them all into thinking he was Spider-Man.

"Well, a bit of my consciousness had survived in his mind for a while, not that anyone really noticed it, influencing his decisions and moves so that he wouldn't go too far," Peter explained. "Didn't always work, but it was a great relief when it did. Unfortunately, Octavius got wise to the fact that I was still in his-my-mind and tried to use a machine to purge me from my own mind. It then went into a whole battle of the mind thing that you would only see from telepaths or in movies or TV, and I ended up losing. Thankfully, I had a guardian angel watching out for me, assuming you could consider old women who like to dress in red and always sit in a big, elaborate chair that looks like it has a spider web for a back as an angel."

"Madame Web," Steve breathed in recognition, drawing a look from Miranda.

"One of the supposed guardians of the web of life," Miranda asked. "I always thought she was a myth."

"Trust me, she's anything but a myth," Peter slightly groaned. "Anyways, Madame Web managed to save my consciousness from being wiped out from existence, but in the process, she said that I had to be sent into another time so that my mind in the present could grow stronger or something. I didn't really get it, mostly cause it was a bunch of her usual web-magic voodoo shtick, or whatever, but basically I was sent here so that my mind would have some kind of anchor as to the general location of what universe to return to when it eventually did."

"So why not put you somewhere closer to the present day, make it so that you could reveal the truth to the world," Steve asked.

"Two reasons, one, doing so would upset the balance in the web of life, or something like that, and having two Peter Parkers and Spider-Men like that would be a little too weird for anyone to handle," Peter replied. "And two, Madame Web said that this time period needed someone like me around for some weird reason. She didn't really say what it was beyond helping to give the universe a reminder of what guys like you and me stood for Cap, but I get the feeling it was mostly because she knew that I'd run into you eventually and that you'd probably need my help with something."

"Well sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm afraid we don't need your help. We were there to recruit Archangel, not some man-child in a ridiculous suit of armor," Miranda pointed out.

"Hey, I'll have you know that this armor is completely custom made using nothing but a bunch of scraps and spare pieces and parts that Garrus and I found lying around Omega, and in case you didn't notice, it also helped me take out a gunship, so can you really tell me that you don't want me around," Peter argued.

"Enough," Steve half-shouted before the two got any further. Honestly, it was almost like watching Peter go at it with one of the female members of the Avengers right then, and while it was nice to see something like that, now was not the time for such things. "Miranda, we're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to stop the Collectors and the Reapers, and Spider-Man has done more than enough to help wherever he could. He would be a great addition to the team." Miranda held Steve's gaze for a moment before she finally crossed her arms and backed off on the matter, letting the super soldier turn his gaze to Peter. "I doubt there would really be any point in my asking you to not antagonize everyone on the ship, seeing as you'll do so anyway even when you're not trying, but what I would like to know is how you took out the gunship, specifically the tactic you employed at the end, because I could've sworn that it looked like you fired a repulsor at it."

That got Miranda's attention, as she too had been curious about what it was that Spider-Man had done to the gunship at the end of the fight. She had suspected that the weapon he used was similar to Iron Man's iconic weapon, and Steve easily confirmed her suspicions were more than likely true with his question. Spider-Man smiled sheepishly once again and brought up one of his gauntleted arms as he revealed, "That's because I did fire a repulsor at it, or a miniaturized one anyway. You see, a short while after Garrus and I had started working together and I had finished building this suit, Garrus pointed out that I couldn't just rely on my webs as my only long-range weapons, and given all that we were dealing with on Omega, I knew he was right. After going on a raid to stop a Blood Pack attack on some civilians, in which I could barely even do anything the entire time, I finally decided to fully address the problem and put everything I learned during the time that Tony Stark had decided to become my mentor and built some ARC reactor tech into the suit."

"Are you saying that you're suit uses actual ARC reactor technology," Miranda asked. "That kind of tech hasn't been used or successfully recreated since Tony Stark's death."

"Well, like I said, I had Tony Stark as my mentor, and I am a bit of a scientist, so it wasn't really that hard. I mean, Tony could've done it way better than me with a lot less and in less time, but I was able to eventually build a pair of repulsors for my suit so that I would have some more offensive capabilities," Peter shrugged in modesty.

"And that's another point in your favor as to why it would be good for you to stick around, Pete," Steve said proudly. "We could always use a few more scientific minds to help out with improvements to the ship and the tech we use."

"…Well, I'd be glad to help with whatever it is you're doing, Cap, but is there any chance you could tell me what that is before I say yes," Peter asked.

Steve nodded as his smile fell into a very serious expression, and he immediately began telling Peter everything about how he was brought back by Cerberus, what had happened since then, and about their current mission against the Collectors.

* * *

Anyone who knew him would automatically tell you that it takes a great deal to cause Spider-Man to become speechless, and after all he had just heard from Captain America about his current mission, the Collectors, and everything else, it seemed that the necessary amount of effort had been reached quite easily this time. The web-swinging hero was completely silent for what seemed to be an eternity, much to Miranda's silent relief, and when he finally did rediscover his ability to speak, it was in a soft, equally shocked, and slightly horrified tone of voice that was unable to form a complete sentence. "That's…I can't…how could…," Peter stuttered for a few minutes or so.

Seeing how distressed the news had made Peter, Steve immediately walked over to place a hand on the younger man's shoulder as he calmly said, "I know it's a lot to take in, son, and that you're probably scared out of your mind after hearing it all. I won't lie to you and say that our chances of surviving this undertaking are high, even if we successfully recruit everyone that we've been asked to bring into the team, because even in that case, this entire thing would be considered a suicide mission beyond anything like what we had to deal with, even in comparison to when we faced the Phoenix Five. I would still be grateful to have your help, we all would in fact, but if you think this is too much for you to handle, I'll understand and let you leave anytime you're ready."

Peter did not say anything for a minute, but eventually, he took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh before he finally said, "Cap, you know me better than that. You know that I could never turn away from any kind of crime when I know I can stop it somehow, along with the reason as to why, so after hearing about something as big as that, do you really think I could walk away from this?"

Steve held Peter's gaze for a minute or so until he finally smiled and said, "No, I don't suppose you would, but I still had to tell you that it was optional, all the same."

"I know," Peter smiled in reply, and he immediately accepted the handshake that Steve was offering, sealing the deal while also accepting his official welcome to the _Normandy_. His smile quickly fell into a serious, pensive expression when Jacob suddenly walked in, knowing that the dark skinned man could only have been there if he had news about Garrus.

Jacob leaned against the table for a minute before he finally looked up at the room's other three occupants and said, "We've done what we could for Garrus, but he took a bad hit. Doctor Chakwas has corrected everything with surgical procedures and some cybernetics. Best we can tell, he'll have full functionality, but it's too soon to tell since he just came out of surgery. All we can do at this point is wait for him to wake up."

"But he will be okay, right," Peter asked, hoping the answer was not anything other than good news.

"If you're asking if he'll live, then yeah, he will. We just don't know anything beyond that yet," Jacob replied with a small, solemn nod. "I wish I had better news."

"It's alright Jacob," Steve reassured the man. "I'm sure he'll be fine, but for right now, we should focus our efforts on the other reason for our being on Omega. So Peter, since you've been here for some time now, maybe you can tell us something about where we can find Professor Mordin Solus."

Peter knew that the captain was trying to keep him from worrying about Garrus by keeping him busy with other matters, a tactic he would sometimes use on himself when he was hoping to try and not think about something that was bothering him at a given moment, but he could not help but continue to worry. Garrus had been a good friend to Peter, helping him out at a time when no one else could or would, so it was only natural for Peter to be worried. Still, Cap was right in saying that they still had work to do, so he decided to go along with things and do what he could to help out until they heard anything new about Garrus's condition. The only problem was, he was not really going to be all that much help in regards to what the super soldier had requested he help with.

"I really don't know all that much about him, to be honest, Cap," Peter admitted. "I know he's a Salarian scientist who opened up a clinic for some of the less fortunate and more peaceful residents of Omega, the former being much more plentiful than the latter, and that he's rumored to have served in the Salarian STG. Beyond that, I really couldn't say much. I know he moved his clinic to somewhere else on Omega pretty recently, but I've never had any run-ins with him aside from dropping off a person who needed serious medical attention once or twice on Garrus's recommendation."

"Well then I guess we'll have to go with the only other option we have," Miranda sighed.

"Please tell me that we're not going to go see Aria," Peter moaned, pleadingly.

"Sorry Peter, but I'm afraid we have no choice in that matter," Steve said. "After all, she does know everything that's worth knowing on Omega."

"Oh man; I told you not to tell me that," Peter groaned in response as his head dropped.

"What's the matter? Is the great and amazing Spider-Man afraid of the ruler of Omega," Jacob asked in a slightly teasing tone.

"Not exactly. It's just…," Peter stated before he turned to Steve. "Cap, you remember Felicia Hardy, right?"

"The Black Cat? She's a little hard to forget for a variety of reasons," Steve nodded. "Let me guess, Aria reminds you a bit of her?"

"More like both her and Kingpin," Spider-Man shrugged. "But more so on Felicia than Fisk, because when it comes to those two, Aria's a stronger match on Felicia in regards to me in more ways than I'd care to know about."

Everyone had to exchange a confused glance in response to that, but ultimately shrugged it off before moving to the armory so that those who needed to could equip themselves for the mission to find Mordin Solus. Steve asked Jacob to stay behind in case there was any other news about Garrus and so that the turian would find a face he already knew other than Chakwas when he woke up, leaving only Spider-Man, Miranda, and himself to locate the Salarian scientist. Miranda was not all that thrilled about working with the web-head again, but her curiosity as to why he was dreading a meeting with Aria outweighed her dislike for Spidey for the moment, and so, the three set off for Afterlife so that they could discover information on Mordin Solus and the reason why Spider-Man was not looking forward to seeing Aria.

* * *

"Well if it isn't my favorite little arachnid," Aria cooed in a way that only a dangerous woman like herself could the minute that the team had arrived on her balcony and her eyes found Spider-Man. "I thought I might miss out on a chance to see you one last time, Spider, but it looks like I wasn't so unfortunate."

"Yeah, nice to see you too, Aria," Spider-Man replied as he started shuffling nervously, knowing that Aria was currently undressing him with her eyes.

"Oh I can think of ways to make it more than just 'nice', Little Spider," Aria purred as she sauntered over and ran a finger along Spider-Man's armored chest, and looking at Spider-Man, one would be unable to tell if he was enjoying the fact that such a beautiful yet dangerous woman was in such close proximity to him at the moment or not.

After witnessing the exchange between the two, Steve immediately understood why Spider-Man was uncomfortable with visiting Aria, as the woman was clearly acting in a way that was far too much like an Asari version of how Black Cat once was with Peter before she returned to a life of crime. In fact, if he did not know better, he would say that Aria was actually the asari reincarnation of Felicia Hardy from how she was acting with Peter at the moment, but a closer look showed him that she was actually holding back a clear desire to pull Spider-Man into a private room for something that would be considered a little more… _exciting_. After taking a minute to let Aria have her fun with making Peter squirm, Steve threw Peter an apologetic look before clearing his throat and saying, "As much as I enjoy watching Spider-Man squirm, we do actually need some help with an important matter Aria."

"Well if it were before you went and recruited Spider, I probably would give you something for free, but in this case, it probably will cost you, depending on what it is," Aria shrugged as she finally stepped away from Spider-Man and sat back down at her couch, motioning for Steve to do the same once she was comfortably seated.

"How about this: if you can tell us whatever you know about what we're hoping to hear about, we'll leave Spider-Man here so you can give him your own, proper goodbye before we leave," Steve offered, immediately throwing another apologetic look at Peter the moment he had finished making said offer, knowing that Peter was throwing him a scandalous and likely horrified look after he heard that.

Aria just smirked at that offer and said, "Now that is quite the deal breaker. Alright, what do you need?"

"I'm looking for Mordin Solus," Steve immediately said after one last apologetic look in Spider-Man's direction, while leaving the web-head to find a corner to slump down in a weep in misery for a while.

"The salarian doctor…last I heard he was trying to help plague victims in the quarantine zone," Aria mused in reply. "I always liked Mordin. He's as likely to heal you as he is to shoot you."

Hearing about a plague started setting off a few bells for Steve, but he figured he would learn about that later on and decided to focus on Mordin for the moment. "What can you tell me about him?"

"He used to be part of the salarian Special Tasks Group, he's brilliant, and dangerous. Just don't get him talking. He never shuts up," Aria warned.

"I've already got one chatterbox on my team, in case you haven't noticed, and I doubt he could be any worse than Spidey," Cap lightly joked, getting a small, hidden smirk from Miranda, and a much more effectively hidden, yet still obvious glare from Spider-Man in response.

"Well, this isn't like with Spider. It's not as endearing," Aria purred with a predatory smile in Spider-Man's direction that made him drop his glare and shiver in response. The asari then brought herself back to business and said, "If you really need to find him, take a shuttle to the quarantine zone. No guarantee they'll let you in, of course, and try not to bring the plague back with you."

"Thanks for the information," Steve nodded as he stood up and moved to leave with Miranda. He only paused for a moment to smirk though as he held up an arm to keep Spider-Man from going any further and then looked to Aria as he said, "I'll leave the two of you to it. Just try to make sure he's still able to move when we get back, and Peter, try not to enjoy yourself too much."

Miranda smirked both at the fact that she and Steve would have some form of peace with Spider-Man being left here and at the horrified look that the web-head was no doubt throwing at Captain America as they departed, while Spider-Man could only sputter in disbelief as he looked from the captain to Aria in slight fear of what would happen. He had seen the looks Aria was sending him before, and he was not too eager to go down that road again, no matter how tempting the asari made it, yet now, he had just been thrown under the bus, temporarily handed over to her like a hunk of meat, by one of the only people in this time that could be considered his oldest, living _friend_ that he knew was still around.

"Cap, wait! You can't just leave me here like this," Peter pleaded, desperately as the captain and Miranda disappeared around the corner and down into the club. "Wait a minute! Come back here! Please don't leave me alone with her! Seriously, this isn't funny! Cap? Miranda?! CAPTAIN AMERICA, HELP!"

Peter's begging instantly vanished when he stiffened at the sudden contact from someone slowly wrapping their arms around him from behind, and upon turning to the person in question, Peter instantly saw Aria shooting him a predatory grin that outmatched every similar grin that Felicia had given him on the nights when the cat burglar had pulled him in for her idea of fun, making him all the more nervous. When he noticed that she was sealing off the area from both her guards and the customer's view, he could do nothing but wonder why his Spider-Sense was not tingling, even as Aria dangerously purred, "Alone at last, Spider."

 _I will get you back for this Steven Rogers,_ Peter mentally swore as he suddenly found himself having a hard time breathing as Aria started doing a variety of things that made him feel rather excited for some reason. _No, no, NO! Do not give in, do not give in, do not give in! Do…do not…do not give…_ , Peter tried chanting to himself, only to find it more and more difficult with every minute until he found himself unable to do so at all when Aria slipped his helmet off and planted a heated and hungry kiss right on his lips. _Oh to hell with it._

* * *

After arriving at the gates to the quarantine zone, Miranda was sure that they would have to force the guard to let them in, but somehow, Steve had managed to politely convince the guard that if he let them in, they would be able to help Mordin cure the plague that had infected every species of alien other than vorcha and humans, and the turian guarding the gate immediately let them in. As soon as they had gotten far enough in, they were quick to find a number of burning, dead bodies and pick up on a rather rancid smell that would likely have made most average people feel like throwing up. Looking around, Miranda could not help but think about how bad this plague could likely be if it caused so much of a problem, and with humans being immune to the plague, there was little doubt in her mind that they would encounter someone who would want to try and kill them as some kind of retaliation.

When Miranda pointed this out, Steve could not help but wonder why no one would think the vorcha would be behind it, since they were also immune. If he were anyone else, Miranda would have either scoffed or rolled her eyes in disbelief, even though the urge to do so was a little tempting at the moment, but she was able to remember that Steve knew very little about the alien races that humanity had made contact with in the past few years, and she immediately explained, "Vorcha are immune to all disease, and even the smartest of vorcha couldn't come up with something as complex as that."

"I see," Steve nodded as he paused in his step for a minute to adjust his shield on his arm before he started moving again.

Miranda just followed after him in silence, noting the burning bodies or ashen remains of previously burned ones that were lying around the area and immediately deducing that they were burned in an attempt to keep the plague from spreading as she did, until she finally found that she had to ask something she had been wondering about. "I was a little surprised at what you did back there, offering Spider-Man up like that," the genetically modified woman stated. "I didn't think you would actually do such a thing, so why did you?"

"Well part of the reason is because I wasn't lying when I said that it's sometimes fun to watch Spidey squirm," Steve joked in reply. "But really, it was mostly because we're in a hurry and seeing how Aria was with him, it was the first thing I could think of. The Avengers would actually use a similar tactic every now and then back in the day in order to get information from Black Cat, at least when we knew that Spider-Man wasn't seeing someone or anything like that, and before she returned to being a criminal."

Miranda could hardly believe what she had heard, but she could not help but grin a little at hearing this information all the same. Before either of them could say anymore, they heard someone coughing nearby, and immediately turned to see a very sick-looking batarian lying against the wall, almost as if he were having trouble just sitting up, or even sitting at all. Miranda would have just ignored the batarian and moved on, mostly because of how most humans felt in regards to the four-eyed aliens in general, but since he was not one to do that, Captain America immediately walked over to see if the alien was alright. He did not receive a very grateful or welcoming reception when he did so though.

"Human…should've guessed," the batarian coughed. "Bad enough you infect us with this plague, now you lack the decency to even wait until I die…before you come to steal my possessions."

"I'm not here to steal anything from you. I just want to try and help," Steve attempted to reassure the batarian as he kneeled down to him, only to quickly jump back when the sick alien suddenly raised a pistol at him.

"Get away from me, human! Your kind has done too much already," the batarian ordered as best as he could. "Your plague did this to me…your feigned pity is the final insult."

Steve could tell that this batarian was not likely to believe anything he said about trying to help, so he figured he would try and find out if the batarian knew anything that could help them with their mission, and asked, "Can you tell me where I can find Mordin Solus?"

"Humans looking for the human sympathizer…I hope the vorcha burn Mordin and his clinic to the ground…I hope you…I hope…damn it! Damn you," the batarian coughed, clearly getting weaker by the minute.

Steve immediately reacted on impulse and kneeled down next to him while pulling some medigel from his belt. "Hey, stay with me, soldier. This might not cure the plague, but it should at least help for a while."

Everyone waited in silence for a minute as the medigel took effect, until the batarian finally regained enough strength to at least stand up, and when he did, he could not help but look at Steve in surprise. "You…you helped me. Why," the batarian gasped.

"It's what I do," Steve replied as simply as possible. "I don't know if I can find a cure for this plague, but I am going to at least try."

"Your words sound…sincere," the batarian mused before coughing a little. "Maybe it's the fever, but, what've I got to lose? What do you want to know?"

"Let's start with the vorcha. Why did you mention them a minute ago," Steve asked.

"Before the quarantine, the Blue Suns controlled this district, but as their numbers fell to the plague, the vorcha moved in. The Blue Suns are now fighting to protect their territory, but as the plague spreads…it's only a matter of time until the vorcha overwhelm them," the batarian stated.

"You mentioned that Mordin Solus had a clinic somewhere," Steve then remembered. "Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah, it's over on the far side of the district," the batarian said. "He's taking in refugees, and offering to help those affected with the plague. I was afraid to go to him before. He's dangerous, but perhaps he can help."

That confused Steve a little. Aria had mentioned that Mordin was as likely to heal you as he was to shoot you, but he did not think that it could possibly be that bad, so he had to ask, "What makes Mordin worse than dying from the plague?"

"The Blue Suns tried to press him for protection money, and he killed them. Stunned them with some kind of toxin and then gunned them down," the batarian revealed. "He's not just a doctor. Doctor's don't execute people and display the bodies as a warning."

It was now much more clear as to why this batarian would consider Mordin so dangerous, as Steve could not believe that someone who was supposed to be a doctor would be like that, even to mercenaries that had threatened him. Sure, he could not fault Mordin for defending himself when he was threatened, but to go as far as this batarian said he had, that was a little too much. Then again, there was still the chance that this was likely just a rumor, but Steve would not learn anything by staying here, so he looked to the batarian and said, "When I find Mordin, I'll tell him about you. If he has a cure, I'll ask him to send someone to get to you."

"Thank you. My time is short, but at least you have given me a flicker of hope to brighten the darkness in my final hours," the batarian coughed in reply before limping away.

The two watched him go for a moment before turning to head off in the direction that he had indicated so that they could reach Mordin's clinic, and after going a short ways in silence, Miranda finally said, "First you leave Spider-Man in Aria's care in exchange for information, and then you give a batarian, a member of an alien race that despises the very ground that humans walk on hope. I have to admit, Rogers, I'm impressed."

Steve did nothing in response but smile a little as thanks for the praise he had just received, and then continued to lead the way to Mordin's clinic, hoping that they would not encounter much more trouble until they arrived at their destination.

* * *

Any hopes of not encountering trouble on the way to Mordin's clinic were quickly dashed when Miranda and Captain America found themselves facing off with members of the Blue Suns, and while the distraction was easily dealt with, it was still very annoying to both of them at how every time they entered an area where they were likely to need to take cover and start shooting at someone, the Blue Suns would be right there waiting to fire on them. The only other thing that they encountered along the way were the dead bodies of a couple that had been gunned down in their own apartment, no doubt out of some desperate alien's attempt to gain some form of revenge for the plague. Miranda and Steve both just stood over the bodies in respectful silence for a minute before they moved on, not wanting to spend very long in the area, and after a few more skirmishes, they finally reached the small clinic.

The minute they had gone inside, they were quick to see that the place was packed with both plague victims and a few mechs that were being used as security in addition to a few humans that also served the same purpose, and considering how small the place was, the two were honestly a little shocked that Mordin was able to make room for all these victims at all. Some of the patients were quick to praise Mordin, even though they were clearly still sick, saying that they owed him their lives, and after a while, they met a few people who were there not because they were sick, but because they had nowhere else to go or were being threatened by either the vorcha or the remaining members of the Blue Suns. It was actually quite admirable to see someone would willingly welcome so many people into his place of business despite whatever risks he put himself into, and that served as even more reason as to why Mordin would be an excellent addition to the _Normandy_ 's team.

Eventually, the two had seen enough of the general area of the clinic, and were soon facing a salarian doctor in a slim, white and red suit and a strange head device that extended up from the back of his suit to encompass the back half of his neck, talking to an assistant and himself at a very fast pace, and they immediately assumed that this was the salarian they were looking for. "Excuse me, Professor Mordin Solus," Steve called out as he approached the doctor.

The salarian immediately turned to the two and waved his omni-tool in front of them before tapping away on it at a furiously fast speed as he spoke almost equally as fast. "Hmmm…don't recognize you from area. Too well armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect. Here for something else. Vorcha? Crew to clean them out? Unlikely. Vorcha a symptom, not a cause. The plague! Investigating possible use as bio-weapon. No. No, no, too many guns, not enough data equipment. Soldiers, not scientists. Yes, yes! Hired guns? Maybe. Looking for someone. Yes, yes, but who? Someone important, valuable. Someone with secrets. Someone like…me. Me! Looking for me. Why? Who are you? What do you want?"

Steve and Miranda stared at Mordin for a minute, now able to see quite clearly why Aria said to not get Mordin talking if he always spoke this way, but eventually, the super soldier snapped himself out of it and asked, "Do you always talk like that, or at least pause for a breath?"

"Sorry. I'll try to slow down," Mordin replied in a deliberately slow tone, only to return to his original speed of talking a minute later. "No! No, no, no. Can't do it. No time. Who are you?"

"I'm Captain Steve Rogers, better known to human history as Captain America, and I'm involved in a critical mission that requires someone of your skills and talents. I need you to come with me," Steve informed the professor.

"Mission? What mission," Mordin asked, only to shake his head a minute later before either Steve or Miranda could answer. "No. No, no, no. Too busy. Clinic understaffed. Plague spreading too fast. Who sent you?"

"Have you ever heard of the organization known as Cerberus," Steve inquired.

That immediately got enough of Mordin's attention to make him pause in his work. "Crossed paths on occasion. Thought they only worked with humans. Why request salarian aid?"

"The Collectors are kidnapping entire human populations, and we're going to find out why and stop them," Steve easily replied with confidence radiating from his voice in a way that made Miranda feel strangely comforted for some reason.

"Collectors? Interesting," Mordin mused aloud as he raised a hand to his chin. "Plague hitting these slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups with technology to design it. Our goals may be similar, but must stop plague first. Already have a cure. Need to distribute it at environmental control center. Vorcha guarding it. Need to kill them."

Steve was a bit upset to hear that Mordin was not going to come with them until the plague was cured, but the minute the professor said that he had a cure ready for distribution, he immediately felt a bit better. There was just the matter of getting it past the vorcha so that it could be distributed, a task he was more than happy to volunteer his services for until a strange sound reached everyone's ears, drawing all of their attention upwards as the lights suddenly dimmed. "What the bloody hell," Miranda asked in mild surprise.

"Vorcha have shut down environmental systems," Mordin reported after checking a read out on his omni-tool. "Trying to kill everyone! Need to get power back on before district suffocates."

"Leave it to us," Steve told Mordin. "We'll get the power back on and take care of the vorcha problem for you."

"Glad to hear. Most grateful indeed. Here, take plague cure. Also, bonus in good faith, weapon from dead Blue Suns mercs. May come in handy against vorcha," Mordin said as he handed the items to Steve. He immediately pocketed the cure in a free compartment on his belt, and moved the gun to an open spot on his weapons rack, though he did not really plan on using it all that much, and then nodded to Mordin before turning to leave with Miranda until the salarian stopped him. "One more thing. Daniel, one of my assistants, went into vorcha territory looking for victims. Hasn't come back."

"We'll do what we can to help if we see him," Steve reassured Mordin as he moved his shield from his back onto his arm once again.

"Thank you. Told him not to go, but he's smart. Bright future, I hope," Mordin nodded.

"One other thing," Steve added. "We found a batarian plague victim near the entrance to the neighborhood. Think you can send someone to help him?"

"Hm. Risky. Blue Suns and Vorcha still battling. District not secure. See what I can do," Mordin nodded.

Steve returned the nod with one of his own and then turned to depart for the environmental plant with Miranda right behind him, each knowing that the upcoming battle would most likely not be as easy as the ones they had faced on their way to the clinic.

* * *

Steve and Miranda's suspicions on the journey to the environmental systems being difficult were quickly proven true, as they were unable to go very far without getting caught in the crossfire of a battle between the vorcha and the Blue Suns every few minutes or so, which inevitably led them to be drawn into the fights until they were able to take down both sides. It took nearly everything that they each had to pull through at some times, but thankfully, they did pull through none the worse for wear save for a few scratches here and there that resulted from a stray bullet getting past their shields and armor now and again. Eventually, they came across a group of batarians threatening Mordin's assistant, and it seemed like they were going to have to get into a fight in order to save the hostage doctor. At least, until Steve managed to convince the batarians that Daniel was trying to help with the plague and that they could walk away if they let the assistant doctor go. The batarians were able to see reason to Steve's argument and allowed Daniel to go free, and they were very pleasantly surprised to learn that Captain America would keep his word and let them go as they all left the area, with Daniel heading back to the clinic so that he could help Mordin with all the victims that were piling up in his clinic.

After that point, the two were able to reach the environmental controls without incident, but unfortunately, they discovered it was being guarded by a small army of vorcha. "You no come here," the lead vorcha snarled. "We shut down machines, break fans! Everyone choke and die then Collectors make us strong!"

Hearing that the Collectors were indeed behind the cure was all the reason that Steve and Miranda needed to make sure that they were ready for anything in the upcoming fight, with Steve instantly pulling out his assault rifle and Miranda priming her biotics for action. "What do the Collectors want," Steve demanded as he aimed his gun for the vorcha's head.

"GAAAAAH! Collectors want plague. You work for doctor! Turn on machines. Put cure in air. WE KILL YOU FIRST!"

If that was not a clear sign that the two were not going to get any useful information out of the vorcha, the fact that they all immediately started shooting and throwing out every form of attack on them certainly was, and Steve was immediately racing in front of Miranda to block the enemy fire with his trusted shield until they managed to find some cover. A few well-placed shots and biotic attacks later allowed the two to completely clear the immediate area of the room, and open up the path to the main controls of the environmental systems, which EDI confirmed was where they could inject Mordin's cure and reinitialize the systems. They immediately plugged in the cure and restarted the system, but unfortunately, there was one small problem.

"Damn it, the fans are still down," Miranda cursed. "We're going to need to reactivate them if we want that cure to get anywhere outside of this room."

"And where are those fans," Steve asked.

"They're on either side of the room," Miranda indicated.

"Of course they are," Steve silently groaned, feeling as though he should have expected the fans to be on opposite ends of the room instead of being well within short distance of each other. Before he could say anymore though, Miranda let out a grunt of pain, and Steve immediately turned to see that she had been shot in the side by another group of vorcha that were coming up from the right side where one of the fans was.

Thinking quickly, Steve immediately raced over and pulled Miranda down behind some crates until her shields came back online and then jumped out to meet the vorcha head on. Though he did take a few hits, they were nothing too serious or anything that could slow him down, and he soon dispensed with each of the attacking vorcha in a blur of punches, kicks, and shield throws that were often punctuated or accompanied by a series of shots from one of the guns he was carrying. Seeing that there were no available threats at the moment, Steve quickly raced over to the control console and started to turn the fan back on, not noticing a lone vorcha coming up behind him in an attempt to land a sneak attack until he was blasted into the air by a Biotic Slam, courtesy of Miranda.

The woman in question allowed her biotics to cool down for a minute before she threw Steve a mildly annoyed look and said, "I can take care of myself, thank you very much. I don't need you to be pushing me behind a crate for safety."

"Just trying to look out for my comrades, Miranda," Captain America immediately replied as he turned back to what he was doing. "Think you can get over to the other fan and get it back on as well?"

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem," Miranda scoffed in reply, and she then vanished from Steve's sight. A minute later, the sound of gunshots and biotics reached Steve's ears, and as they continued to ring out, Steve could feel his worries for his ship's XO growing a little, even after they all went silent.

"…Miranda? You okay," Steve called out after another minute of the silence.

"Perfectly fine, Captain," Miranda immediately called back as the sound of a large fan starting up began echoing through the room. "I've finished restarting the fan over here."

Steve tapped a few more controls on both the console and his omni-tool, and the display of the fans immediately changed to confirm that the fans on his end were working properly again. "I'm done here as well."

"Alright then, let's finish rebooting the system and get back to Professor Solus as quickly as possible," Miranda replied, getting a quick agreement from Steve a minute before he started making his way back to the main controls, eager to get back to the clinic and out of the room that had started to gain a bit of a nasty smell after the vorcha were all eliminated.

* * *

"Environmental systems engaged. Airborne viral levels dropping, patients improving, vorcha retreating. Well done Rogers. Thank you," Mordin reported when Miranda and Captain America had returned to the salarian's clinic.

"And thank you for me as well," Daniel added in gratitude. "Those batarians would've killed me. For a second there, I kind of thought you would shoot them even after they let me go."

"That's not how I operate, son," Steve reassured the young man. "When I give my word, I stand by it, no matter what happens."

"Merciful of you. Risky. Would've killed them myself," Mordin stated after he heard that, drawing a shocked expression from Daniel.

"Professor, how can you say that? You're a doctor! You believe in helping people," Daniel protested.

"Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients, sometimes execute dangerous people. Either way help," Mordin replied. "Go check on the patients. Lots of work to do. Think about what I said."

Daniel just glared at Mordin for another minute before he finally nodded and left the room as the professor had asked, not knowing that Mordin was smiling at his retreating form with a bit of pride. "Good kid. Bit naïve. He'll learn. Letting him take over the clinic. Should be able to handle it now that vorcha are gone."

"I take it that means you're ready to come with us and help stop the Collectors," Steve asked.

"Yes," Mordin replied. "Unexpected to be working with Cerberus. Many surprises. Just need to finish up here at the clinic. Won't take long. Looking forward to it."

"We'll wait for you just outside then," Steve nodded. "We've got to make a quick stop at Afterlife to pick up a friend and then we'll be on our way back to our ship."

Mordin nodded in response to this and quickly started working on everything that he still had left to take care of, eagerly awaiting his departure for Captain America and Miranda's ship and the adventure that was no doubt just ahead of them.

* * *

When the three arrived at Afterlife to pick up Spider-Man, it was clearly obvious that not only was the web-head a bit exhausted for reasons that they did not want to know about, but that he was also giving Captain America a silent glare, to which Steve only responded with a good-natured smile, much to Peter's ire. That ire was quickly replaced with worry though when he heard Aria tell calling out to tell him to come back soon and that she would be waiting for another round, immediately prompting him to lead the way out of the club and back to the ship as fast as he could without running until he was outside the club and able to finally sprint back to the ship. When they arrived at the ship and came into the conference room, they found Jacob waiting for them with a smile on his face as his omni-tool vanished from sight.

"Welcome back you guys, and welcome to the _Normandy_ , Professor Solus," Jacob greeted everyone. "It's an honor to have you on board."

"Yes, very exciting," Mordin nodded as he gazed around the room at a rapid pace. "Cerberus working with aliens, unexpected. Illusive Man branching out, maybe? Not so human centric?"

"You seem rather well informed," Miranda observed.

"Salarian government well connected. Espionage experts. Had top level clearance once. Retired now. Still hear things," Mordin explained. "Informed of name only. No knowledge of man behind it. Anti-alien reputation listed as problematic."

"Well I wouldn't kid myself if I were you professor. Humans still come first in the Illusive Man's eyes, but this mission is too big for them to handle alone," Jacob warned the salarian professor. He then smiled a bit before looking to Peter and saying, "Speaking of hearing things, I think you'll be happy to hear a certain piece of news I just received from the med bay."

Before Peter could ask what that meant, the door to the conference room whooshed open to reveal a fully healed Garrus standing there with a smile on his face, save for the scarring that now covered the lower, right side of said face. "Garrus Vakarian reporting for duty. Hope Peter wasn't too much trouble while I was unable to keep him in check."

Peter immediately smiled at seeing Garrus, honestly not caring about the small jab the turian took at him, while Jacob just laughed it off and said, "Tough son of a bitch was up around almost half an hour after you all left. I honestly thought he wouldn't be up until a short while before you got back."

Garrus then walked into the room and said, "Nobody would give me a mirror, Pete. How bad is it?"

"Come on, Garrus. You were always ugly and you know it," Peter joked in reply. "Slap some face paint on there and no one will even notice. Then again, you could just leave it there and finally be able to sell the excuse of having been seriously scarred after a battle in a war to any girls who see you."

Garrus just laughed that off until he grunted a little in pain and said, "Oh, don't make me laugh just yet, damn it. My face is barely holding together as it is. Probably for the best though. Everyone was always ignoring you and hitting on me. Time for you to get a fair shot at it with someone other Aria for a change, Peter."

Peter's expression immediately fell at the mention of Aria and he silently snarled, "Do not mention that woman around me for a long time, Garrus."

Garrus stared at Peter in confusion when he saw that reaction, only to be brought out of it when Mordin politely coughed to get everyone's attention again and asked, "Fascinating as this is, not important right now. Would like to know details about why involvement for mission necessary."

"Of course, Professor," Miranda nodded, mentally thanking him for keeping Peter from going too far with another string of ridiculous quips and needless comments. "The Collectors are abducting human colonies out on the fringes of Terminus Space. Entire colonies disappear without a trace. No distress signals are sent out, and there's no signs of any kind of attack. There's virtually no evidence that anything unusual even happened at all, save for the fact that every man woman and child is gone."

"Hm, gas maybe? No, spreads too slow. Airborne virus? No, slower than gas. Drugged water supply? No, effects not simultaneous. Intriguing. Fascinating. No distress calls, no signs of resistance," Mordin started theorizing aloud.

"You don't have to sit there and guess, Professor," Steve interrupted before Mordin could go any further. "We collected samples from one of the colonies. I'd like you to analyze them and figure out how the Collectors did this."

"Yes, of course. Analyze the sample. Going to need a lab," Mordin nodded in reply.

 **"There is a fully equipped lab on the combat deck, Professor Solus. If you find anything lacking, please place a requisition order,"** EDI offered, drawing Mordin's attention to the speakers around the room in mild surprise.

"Who's that? Pilot? No, synthesized voice. Simulated emotional inflections. Could it be? No. Maybe. Have to ask. Is that an AI," Mordin quickly stated.

"Yes. The ship is equipped with an artificial intelligence by the name of EDI," Jacob nodded.

"An AI on board. Non-human crewmembers. Cerberus more desperate than I thought," Mordin mused.

"The Collectors have taken tens of thousands of colonists, and we'll do whatever we have to do to stop them," Jacob explained.

Mordin nodded in understanding, along with another round of fast mutterings on the situation before he finally requested directions to the lab, which Jacob happily provided as he led the doctor from the room. After a minute, Miranda excused herself as well so that she could file her report, leaving Captain America in the room with Peter and Garrus. This gave Garrus a chance to finally air some concerns he had in regards to their current working relationships to the captain of the new _Normandy_. "Captain, I am grateful for what you did, and I trust Peter's judgment when he says you can be trusted, but frankly, I'm a bit worried about that," Garrus said. "I've seen a lot of bad things that had been done by Cerberus during my time with Shepard, and I haven't heard many good things about them over the past few years either."

"Honestly Cap, that's something I'm worried about too," Peter admitted. "From what I've heard Garrus tell me about those times he encountered Cerberus with Commander Shepard, I can honestly say that they're not someone I'd be willing to trust without keeping one eye on them at all times."

"That's why I'm glad you two are here," Steve stated. "I need people I can trust to watch my back if I do end up walking into hell."

"As flattering as that is, I hope you do realize that if you do end up doing that, you'll be dragging me into that same hell with you right," Peter asked in a non-serious tone.

"Almost like old times for all of us then, isn't it," Garrus said before he straightened up again. "I'm fit for duty whenever you need me, Captain."

"Glad to hear it," Steve nodded. "Now then, I'd like your opinions on what our next move should be. There's a few more people that we'll need to recruit, but I'd like to know if either of you believes we should do something else before we take care of that."

Garrus hummed in thought for a minute before he finally said, "In all honesty, I'd head for the Citadel, if you haven't already done that. No doubt word's gotten around about what you've been doing, so the Council will probably want to clear the air with you."

"Garrus is right," Peter nodded. "It would make sense for you to make sure that those guys don't come after us because of some ill-founded rumors. As much as I hate politics, we do need them on our side if we want to get anything done right."

Steve thought it over for a minute before he finally nodded in acceptance and said, "I'll tell Joker to set a course for the Citadel at once and ask Miranda to see if she can get in touch with the human councilor or anyone from his office."

 **"Operative Lawson has already carried out such actions earlier on, and you have received a message on your private terminal from Councilor Anderson that is requesting that you meet with him and the Council as soon as conveniently possible, Captain Rogers,"** EDI informed everyone.

"Thanks EDI, but I'll need one of you to remind me to tell Miranda to let me know before she does something like that again," Steve said. "I can't lead a mission if the people I'm leading are doing things without my knowledge."

"Roger that, Cap," Peter said. "I'm going to head over to Mordin's lab to see if I can help, and if you don't hear anything from me otherwise, then that's where you'll find me. If you do, I'll likely be in engineering or something to see if I can help out."

"I'll see what I can do with the forward batteries. I'd rather not take a chance of those things not being up to whatever code we need at a given time," Garrus then added as he and Spider-Man left the room.

"Garrus, we need to get you a new addiction, buddy."

"It's not an addiction, it's a hobby! You're the one who's addicted to all that web-swinging."

"No that's a habit. You're the one who can't go for five seconds without calibrating something."

"I told you it's not an addiction!"

"Uh-huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Steve could not help smiling at the banter that was exchanged between the two friends before he finally made his way up to the galaxy map in order to relay his desired destination to Joker. Part of him was glad that he had a few more good people on his team, while another part was preoccupied with anticipation at finally seeing the Citadel. Though it was hard for him to tell if that anticipation was due to excitement or concern, as he knew that anything could happen during that visit, as well as the meeting with council that he would find himself facing when they arrived there. Whatever the case may be though, it did not deter Steve from his decided course of action, and soon enough, the ship was flying through the Mass Relay and headed for the center of Council Space, hopefully ready for whatever would be awaiting them there.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay so, Garrus is okay, and we see a bit of the friendly interaction between him and Spidey, Mordin's on board, plague's cured, and now the team's headed for the Citadel! Hooray! Be honest, how many of you have been just itching for the moment when Captain America goes to the Citadel and meets with the Council? Come on, don't be shy._**

 ** _EDI: Perhaps it would be better to continue with the ending note instead of asking questions that likely will go unanswered._**

 ** _AN: Fine, fine, sheesh. Such a killjoy. Okay, so first off, I'm sure you all remember how last chapter I had Cap compare Aria to Black Cat and Kingpin, right? Well, this time around I figured I go a little farther with the comparison to the former. Poor Spidey. He just can't seem to escape attracting the attention of dangerous women like that, now can he? Yeah, I just had to put that in for, in Joker's words, "shits and giggles."_**

 ** _Aside from that, not really all that much excitement in this chapter, in my own honest opinion, but I blame that on what happened in this mission during the game. I mean when you get down to it, there really isn't that much of a grand adventure behind recruiting Mordin, at least in comparison to recruitment missions for guys like Garrus, Jack, or Grunt, so I just tried to do the best with what I could, and it also gave us the added bonus of a chance to expand Cap's relationship with Miranda a little more, even by just a small margin._**

 ** _And now we've got three new additions to the_ Normandy _team for the price of two, with the heroes flying off to the next stop at the Citadel, and we all know who we should expect to run into there, so it kinda makes you wonder why I really put in a preview for the next chapter, doesn't it? But I've kinda made it a principle for this story, so I've gotta do it either way. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team is allowed a brief chance to catch their breaths when they arrive at the Citadel, and while Steve and Peter are not all that fond of how the meeting with the Council goes, they do not deny that it does have a few benefits. Other factors come into play during their trip to the massive station, such as the addition of another new team member, but whether or not the trip is really worth it all can only really be determined after every important matter they need to deal with has been said and done. Find out what happens next time._**

 ** _Yeah, I can just tell that next chapter's more than likely going to be pretty short compared to these first few, but what're ya gonna do, am I right?_**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	5. Not the Best Welcome

_**AN: Okay so yeah, this chapter was not easy to write, at least on the latter part, and in all honesty, I'm not really sure I did it as well as it could've been done either. I mean, I got to work in the details that I wanted to happen and all, but I still feel as though it could've been better.**_

 ** _Tali: Why so much doubt when you're usually so confident, if anything I've read from the author's notes of your other stories is anything to go by._**

 ** _AN: Hey, this is completely different. I mean, look at what I'm doing with this story. You can't tell me that it's not a little nerve racking to be writing a story that so many people are going to likely be looking over with a fine point needle. Anyways, in response to some reviews, yeah, I thought it was kind of funny to write that little moment with Aria and Spidey, but I do apologize if Aria seemed OOC in anyway. I was honestly trying my best to keep her in character while going with my interpretation of her as possible, but for those of you who are worried about what that means for pairings with Spider-Man, don't worry, he's not going to be paired up with Aria. However, I will admit that I'm having a bit of trouble with deciding on who to pair our favorite web-head with. You'll see why soon enough, because if I were to tell you now, it would likely ruin a major detail of the story. For now, let's just say that I'm having a hard time deciding between two very strong, potential love interests for Spider-Man and leave it at that. One is from Mass Effect, and the other is from Marvel, and that's all I'm going to say at this time, you besides the fact that this story is going to add a few more Marvel characters later on down the line._**

 ** _Also, in response to the review left by "Maris Brood-TheDarkZabrakJedi", it's Spider-Man, dude. His luck is really divided between good and bad that sometimes even he doesn't know how to describe it beyond calling it the ol' Parker Luck._**

 ** _Spider-Man: True, so true. Just don't make me do what I did with Aria again, please._**

 ** _AN: Uh...well, I think we've wasted enough time with all this, so enjoy the story._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Wait, you hesitated and then didn't say anything in response to my request. Why'd you do that? Hey, wait! Don't start yet! You need to answer me!_**

 ** _AN: Sorry, already starting!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Not the Best Welcome**

Steve spent the majority of the journey to the Citadel in his cabin studying what he could and asking some of the crew about anything he could use to help in his case for when he met with the Council, a fact that seemed rather admirable to some, since it showed that he did not intend to take any chances when he did meet with them. Whether it be meeting with any member of the crew that had so much as seen a Council meeting in passing, or talking to someone who had direct dealings with the Council at least once, such as Garrus, Steve made sure that he left no option closed in his preparation for what he would say when he met with the leaders of Council Space. Despite seeing how much he was doing to prepare for this though, there was still a good amount of the crew who were not very optimistic about Captain America's chances for having a good meeting with the Council. One of the most vocal worriers was the _Normandy_ 's pilot, and he was making that quite clear to Spider-Man right at the moment as they were nearing their destination.

"I'm telling you, it's going to be a total shit storm, no question," Joker insisted for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, I know. You've been telling me that for a few hours now," Peter remarked with a roll of his eyes.

"Well I'm just making sure that my point is clear," Joker argued. "Seriously, I wouldn't be so worried if someone like Commander Shepard were doing this, you know because the Council owed him for saving their lives during Sovereign's attack, but in Cap's case, I have a massive number of doubts. They don't know the first real thing about him, and I doubt they'll really pay much attention to anything Anderson or Ambassador Udina sends them, because the minute they see he's working with Cerberus, a known terrorist organization, they'll be calling for the firing squad."

"Okay, now you're just being a little too paranoid," Peter stated. "There's no way that will happen. I mean, Cap's one of humanity's greatest heroes, and if they try to do that, I think there's a strong chance that they'll make an enemy of us."

"Well yeah, sure, but I doubt they would actually realize that without someone pointing out why, and even then, they would just dismiss it as us being overdramatic. Besides, do you really think that they'll take anything about Cap that we send them seriously," Joker asked rhetorically.

"Come on, Joker, why all the negativity. Seriously, just think positive and things will turn out fine," Peter insisted in an easy going tone that easily hid his own worries about Captain America's meeting.

"You might want to tell that to some of the old _Normandy_ 's crew," Joker stated. "Pretty sure they were all trying to think positive as the ship was going down, and look what happened there."

"Sheesh, and I here I thought a guy with a nickname like Joker would be a barrel of laughs, not the ultimate pessimist," Peter joked.

That got Joker laughing, while simultaneously seeming to cause his worries about Steve's meeting with the Council to diminish a little. "Oh, have I mentioned how great it is having you on board? And not just because you somehow managed to get Garrus to finally pull that large pole out of his ass, either," Joker said once he had calmed down. "Seriously, how'd you do it?"

"With my clever wit and charming personality," Peter replied with a smile, getting both men to laugh as a result. When he finally managed to settle his chuckles, Peter had to ask, "So how's the ship handling from your perspective?"

"Pretty good for the most part," Joker shrugged. "I really want to a chance to put the _Normandy_ through her paces, though. I just have to trim up the drive output, and it'll be like we never lost her."

 **"Safety standards advise against manipulating drive settings while engines are powered and in use, Mister Moreau,"** EDI cautioned through her interface, drawing both men's attention long enough to get Joker to scowl a little while Peter's expression stayed neutral for the moment.

"Man, I really wish we could shut this thing off," Joker groaned as he looked back to his console for a minute. "I don't need it in my day-to-day."

"Hey, she's not that bad," Peter shrugged in the AI's defense. "At least she doesn't sound like a stuck-up, British guy like JARVIS did at times. I get that you're not a fan, Joker, but we're stuck with EDI, whether we like it or not."

"Until I find a sautering gun," Joker muttered aloud. "There's gotta be some wires I can cross to make it hurt."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't go sabotaging the ship, Joker. Is that understood," Steve suddenly asked as he came up behind the two, getting both to jump in slight surprise, though Joker's was obviously much more subdued because of his condition.

Seeing the captain was there, Joker could only assume that someone had told him that they were about to make their final approach to the Citadel before he rolled his eyes in response to Cap's order and said, "Yeah, yeah. Don't break the boss's toys. Good timing though, Cap. We're just about to see the Citadel. You two will be in for one hell of a treat when you see it."

When the _Normandy_ came out of the high-speed travel that the Mass Relays granted ships, Steve and Peter both found themselves thinking that Joker had put it very mildly when he told them that they would be in for a treat, as they were immediately greeted by the massive space station that the entire galaxy knew as the Citadel the minute that the _Normandy_ had jumped to normal traveling speed. Both the super soldier and the arachnid hero were sure that they were staring at the structure with open-mouthed shock and awe, just as they were sure that they were both thinking that the Citadel seemed more like a massive city in space than a station, and that it was more than likely on a greater scale than New York City would be if it was the same way. They were so shocked that they barely even registered Joker exchanging words with the Citadel's flight control so that they could land the ship in an available docking bay or that the _Normandy_ was about to dock at all until they heard the tell-tale sounds of docking clamps locking down on the vessel.

When they finally came out of their stupor, they looked to see that Miranda, Jacob, and Garrus had arrived on the bridge as well and were each smirking at them in amusement. "We know. Everyone has a similar reaction the first time they see the Citadel in real life," Jacob reassured the two with a smile before he decided to get down to business. "So, who's going where, Cap?"

"You'll be heading out on a supply run for the ship. Get whatever we need from here that we couldn't get on Omega or anywhere else in the galaxy with whatever funds we have. Garrus, you and Spider-Man will be heading to Councilor Anderson's office for that meeting with me. Miranda, I'm leaving you in charge until we get back," Steve stated. As soon as his orders were given, everyone had to nod in approval, as they immediately picked up on the fact that Steve had made sure no one in his group was a Cerberus operative, which would no doubt play in his favor when he arrived at his meeting with the Council.

"Understood," the four immediately replied and they all then turned to the airlock

"Hey Jacob, make sure you get some food supplies, because I think I speak for the whole crew when I say the slop we have now is not gonna cut it unless we want everyone to go hungry the entire time we're out here," Joker called out, getting everyone to cringe a little when he mentioned the _Normandy_ 's current food situation. They had all tasted some of the food supplies that Gardner currently had, and while everyone knew that the mess sergeant was doing his best, they all had to agree when Peter said that he had stuff that tasted better from his high school cafeteria.

After shaking that thought out of his head, Jacob immediately made sure to make getting large quantities of food supplies his top priority and moved to exit the ship. As the others were following, Miranda called out to Steve, prompting the captain to pause for a moment to see what she had to say. "I know the primary purpose here is for you to meet with the Council, but after looking over the dossiers again, I saw that one of our potential recruits has also asked for us to meet them here on the Citadel," Miranda reminded Steve.

"Kasumi Goto, the master thief," Steve recalled. "Didn't it say we would meet her at an advertisement in the Zakera Ward?"

"That's right," Miranda confirmed. "It should actually be right in front of you after you arrive at the skycar drop off. Better to speak with her now and see if we can convince her to join us then wait until later."

"Agreed," Steve nodded. "Thanks for the heads-up, Miranda."

The beautiful Cerberus agent nodded in reply and then turned on her heel to return to her office on Deck Two. Steve watched her go for a moment before he turned to join the others in the airlock, but as he was going, a part of him could not help but think that Miranda had probably put an extra sway in her hips as she was leaving. He shook that notion off though, thinking it was ridiculous to consider she was doing that, and quickly moved outside the ship with the others before any more thoughts like that could enter his mind, allowing him to put all of his focus on the more important matters that he was about to address: recruiting Kasumi and meeting with the Council.

* * *

The minute that they had left the ship, Jacob separated from the group and took a skycar to the markets so he could purchase the supplies they would need, leaving Steve, Garrus, and Peter to take another skycar to Zakera Ward. As they traveled there, Garrus had to note that both Steve and Peter were wearing their old costumes in place of their usual armors, with the only equipment they were carrying being Captain America's shield, Spidey's web shooters and belt, and their omni-tools. This immediately told the turian that they were likely hoping that coming into the meeting without being as heavily armed as they usually were, they would win a few extra points in their favor from the Council. It was a tactic that would not be very likely to benefit them that much, but it was a smart move all the same.

Of course, when Garrus saw Peter decked out in his old red and blue suit, he could not help but smirk as he said, "I could've sworn that you burned that abomination you call a suit, Peter. Honestly, I don't know how anyone took you seriously with you wearing that thing."

"Why does everyone talk crap about my costume," Peter playfully moaned. "This is the classic suit. It's iconic."

"I was unaware that in human terms, iconic also meant 'ugly as hell'," Garrus quipped in reply. He then seemed to contemplate something in silence for a minute before he said, "Then again, it is better than that white suit that you wore during your time with the Future Foundation. Honestly, you looked like a smaller, skinny version of that Anti-Venom guy you told me about."

"Thank you! Finally, someone else admits it," Peter exclaimed to the heavens. "I'd been saying that since I put it on, and yet everyone seemed to like it just fine. What is wrong with people that they can't see an obvious flaw in such a fashion statement?"

Steve had to chuckle a little at the two as they continued to banter back and forth like best friends, but eventually he had to get them to settle down as they reached their destination. Climbing out of the skycar, Steve immediately spotted the large cylinder that was displaying an advertisement behind a woman in a dark hood and marched over to it with Garrus and Peter right behind him, the latter double checking to make sure his mask was on right as he did. Once they had approached the advertisement, the hooded woman requested in a Japanese accent, "Please tell me your password, Captain America."

"Password? Did you know we were going to need a password," Peter whispered to Garrus nervously.

Garrus just shrugged to say that he did not and kept quiet, thinking it would be best to let Cap do all the talking here while they just listened in. Thankfully, Steve knew what the woman was referring to, as the dossier on Kasumi stated that they would need a specific password to confirm to her that they were who they appeared to be, and swiftly replied, "Silence is golden."

"Good to finally meet you, Captain America. Kasumi Goto. I'm a big fan," Kasumi nodded in introduction. She then noticed the other two that were with Steve and smiled a bit when her eyes found the red and blue spandex clad hero of the two. "And who're your friends? Particularly the one in the spider suit?"

Peter immediately had a feeling he knew where this was going, and was immediately praying that it would not be heading in that direction, despite how certain such a thing was given how Kasumi was staring at him as though he were a cute little panda bear. Garrus and Steve on the other hand had to smirk a little in amusement when they saw this, but only the latter responded to the question as he said, "They're part of my team. The turian is Garrus Vakarian and the one in the spider suit is Spider-Man."

"You're kidding, right," Kasumi asked in disbelief when she heard the latter's introduction. When she saw the serious look Steve was giving her, she immediately had her answer, and immediately looked back at Peter with a smile as she said, "Well, he is just as cute as he is in the pictures, probably even more so…"

"Not again," Peter silently groaned. "What is it about me that seems to attract crazy women who, more often than not, are usually thieves, bounty hunters, or just on the wrong side of the law?"

"Come on, it can't be that bad that you attract so many women," Garrus remarked. "I don't know how it's possible, especially if they meet you while you're wearing that suit, but it's still impressive. I have to ask, what's your secret?"

"If I knew, I'd give it to you without any hesitation, Garrus, because I don't want it," Peter replied.

"If you're done making my teammate squirm, Miss Goto, do you mind if I ask why I needed to go sneaking around and giving out a password," Steve asked.

"Not at all, but please, call me Kasumi," Kasumi replied. "The reason is actually quite simple, really. I'm the _best_ thief in the business, not the most famous, so I need to watch my step to keep it that way. I also needed to make sure it was legit, and I have no doubts now. You're definitely the real Captain Steve Rogers, alias Captain America."

"How can you be so sure of that," Steve asked.

"There's a certain…aura around you that only fits people like you. Cute little Spidey's got it too. One that says you've both seen and done things that most would consider to be completely insane. I was confident that it was you the minute you stepped out of the skycar," Kasumi explained.

"Glad to hear it. Has Cerberus filled you in on the mission," Steve asked.

"Honestly, I'm shocked they didn't come to see me sooner," Kasumi replied with a shrug that could barely be seen on the advertisement's cylindrical screen. "My fault for being hard to find, I guess."

"But in the end, you did eventually come to them," Garrus remarked. "Care to explain why?"

"That's a bit of a story, Garrus," Kasumi said in a very subdued tone, one that Peter and Steve immediately knew was likely associated with a tale of something that had happened in the master thief's past she did not like thinking about too much. "Short version: they were looking for me, so I trailed them to find out why. Turns out they were looking for someone to join you all on an important mission and were offering a serious signing bonus. I had a thing I needed help with, so I made them a deal and here we are."

"Is this deal something that I should know about," Steve inquired.

"Yeah, I guess that slipped their minds," Kasumi stated in a slightly annoyed tone. "Simply put, it involves something very personal for me, but at the same time, it could also affect the entire galaxy. I'll fill you in on the details later, because you look like you have somewhere you need to be right now, if that's alright."

Steve seemed to pause in thought for a minute. In all honesty, Kasumi did not seem like a bad person, even if she was a thief, and he could still remember noticing how her mood seemed to sour a bit when she had mentioned that the task she needed help with was personal for her. Whether or not she was being honest in how the matter would affect everyone in the galaxy was yet to be seen though, since she was not telling them all that much on the matter right now, but she was right in saying that they had to be somewhere soon, and it was probably not a great idea to keep the Council waiting for too long. Steve was usually a very good judge of character, so he honestly wanted to say yes to the hooded woman's request, but considering what was implied, he figured he should get a second opinion, so he looked over to Spider-Man, knowing that Peter was usually just as good at judging people as he was. After Peter glanced between Kasumi and him for a minute before nodding an okay, Steve looked back to the ad and said, "Alright then, welcome to the team, Kasumi. Try not to wait too long before you tell us what this favor you need is though."

"I'll try not to, but considering what we're going to be doing, I don't think I can make any promises other than that it'll be fun," Kasumi said, and with that, her image vanished from the ad just before it sunk into the ground. A second later, a pair of arms appeared around Spider-Man's arm, causing him to jump a little and draw everyone's attention to the master thief who seemed to just appear out of nowhere next to the web-head. "So if we're done looking silly by standing here and talking to an advertisement, let's get going, boys."

Spider-Man just groaned as silently as possible, already able to tell that this woman was likely going to cause him some trouble in the way of playful teasing and many other matters, while Steve and Garrus just nodded and moved forward, hoping that they would not encounter any other problems along the way.

* * *

After a small incident with the Citadel's scanners, the team ended up going to see C-Sec Captain Bailey to clear up any further problems that they would encounter with said security system, and the Citadel peacekeeper was more than happy to straighten things out for Steve and Peter so that they would not have to worry about being arrested because the computers were registering them as being dead while simultaneously allowing them to avoid any political crap that they would have to work through in order to get things straightened out for them. In all honesty, Steve found Bailey to be rather likeable, as the C-Sec captain seemed like someone who really understood that sometimes things just had to get done without having to deal with all the unnecessary crap that was thrown in the way, but at the same time, he also had a code of honor that kept him honest and prevented him from partaking in any underhanded or illegal dealings. Knowing this made Steve smile a little when Bailey offered to help him with anything that the super soldier could need from him in the future, assuming that Bailey could help somehow, and it also made the trip to the Presidium a little more relaxed, allowing him to really get a good look at its magnificence.

As they were approaching the Presidium Embassies, no one in the group could help overhearing a few whispers and mutterings that cropped up from some of the passing pedestrians who saw them, or how said whispers and mutterings were obviously directed towards the red, white, and blue clad captain that was leading the group. It was understandable really, as word had a tendency to travel fast in an age with so much advanced technology in the galaxy, but the fact that most of the people who were saying these things to one and other were humans easily told the group that most of the members of the other races were not convinced that anything about Captain America's return to life was to be taken seriously. Of course, when Kasumi asked why no one seemed to be talking about the fact that Spider-Man was among their number as well, Peter simply shrugged and replied that it was mostly because he had kept himself out of any public eye beyond the criminal element of Omega until just recently, and because most people had often considered big time Avengers and heroes like Captain America to be of greater respect than the friendly neighborhood hero who did not always have the best reputation at times.

"And yet, there's an entire museum for Spider-Man that's bigger than most of the other museums on the heroes from the Age of Marvels on Earth," Kasumi commented.

That threw Peter and Steve for a bit of a loop, though the latter did not need a mask that hid his face completely in order to effectively hide his shock, and the spider themed hero had to ask, "There's a Spider-Man museum? I have a museum?! Garrus why didn't you tell about this?"

"Mostly because I knew you would freak out and get a bigger ego than you already seem to have at times," Garrus shrugged in good humor that had a very strong amount of honest seriousness in it that would prevent most people from knowing whether or not he was joking for certain.

Before Peter could say anything in retort the group started to pick up on some tidbits of another conversation that pertained to their leader, and they immediately turned to see an elderly man wearing squared rimmed glasses with a silver mustache and his silver hair slicked back talking with a younger man with dark brown hair in blue jeans, a red shirt, dark colored boots, and a sleeveless, crimson vest. "I'm telling you man, it's all true," the younger man insisted. "I heard about it from a friend of mine on Omega who works at the bar in that Afterlife club that Aria's known for using as her main base or something."

"Come on, Dave. Captain America back from the dead and traveling around the galaxy on a new _Normandy_? Give me a break," the elderly man chuckled in reply.

"Said the guy who's catchphrase is 'face front true believer'," Dave remarked. "But he wasn't just on Omega. My cousin at C-Sec told me that he saw Captain Bailey talking with a guy who looked just like Captain America."

"Dave, anyone could dress up in a costume and say they're Captain America. I seem to recall you wore a very impressive Spider-Man costume at the company's last Halloween party while your date was dressed as Ms. Marvel," the elderly man pointed out.

"Well from what my cousin said, this wasn't just some cheap costume that some guy made, and the shield on his back was pretty convincing as well, Stan," Dave argued. "What if it is true and Cap's really back? Do you think that means that something big is going to happen that only he can stop?"

"Hard to say, kiddo," Stan shrugged. "But I do know that if those other rumors that have been floating around about Captain America being with a terrorist group are true, then the Council is going to be far less happy to see him than anyone else would be."

"You don't think they'd try to have him executed for working with Cerberus if that is true, do you," Dave asked nervously. "I mean, Captain America's the greatest hero in human history, and word about his return has already reached Earth, so if it is true and people start hearing that the Council was even considering doing something like that…"

"Calm down, Dave. You're worrying too much," Stan reassured his young friend. "Besides, I doubt the Council would do that unless they wanted to make an enemy of humanity in public, military, and government terms."

Dave had to laugh a little at Stan's comment, but when he silenced his chuckles, he spotted the team and his jaw immediately dropped in shock. When Stan asked what was wrong, Dave just pointed to the team, prompting Stan to turn as well and gain an equally shocked expression as well. Seeing this, Steve could not help but smile and give a friendly salute as he said, "Nice to know there's a good deal of support from the home front. Take care now, soldiers."

With that said, the team swiftly departed, leaving the two completely shocked at what had just happened until they were nearly out of sight, which prompted Dave to call out, "Best of luck brave heroes!" When the team smiled in response before finally disappearing from sight, Dave looked back to Stan and asked, "Well what do you say to that, Stan the Man?"

Stan just stared in awe for another minute before he finally breathed one word in shock. "Excelsior."

* * *

Councilor David Anderson honestly thought that this was probably one of the toughest spots he had ever been in the middle of in his entire life and that was saying something considering his career as a soldier on the front lines. In all honesty, there were days when he wondered why Shepard had recommended him as the councilor for humanity, as he honestly preferred life as a soldier over that of a politician, but he was glad that he could push back against a few bad ideas. It would be a bit easier though if the other councilors were not so insistent on denying the existence of the Reapers, as even after all this time, they still refused to admit that Sovereign was anything more than advanced geth technology. He could understand why they were doing it, though; they were scared of what it would mean and how people would react to such news, and if he was not aware of how important the Reaper threat was, he would be right there with them, but Anderson was well aware of how great a threat the Reapers are, so he kept trying to convince them of the threat, even though he sometimes felt like he was beating his head against a brick wall.

The problem of convincing the council of the Reapers' existence was not Anderson's main concern at the moment though. The matter that held his attention at the moment was the various number of stories and rumors flying around about one of humanity's greatest heroes being back from the dead and working with Cerberus. In all honesty, Anderson was not sure what to think when he first started hearing word of Captain America being out there fighting against the various scourges of the galaxy alongside the terrorist group, but when he received an anonymous message that confirmed the captain was indeed alive again, he knew that he would have to address the matter with the Council, and that it would be better if the captain was there with him. Thankfully, the message he received had an address he could use to try and reach the legendary hero, and he quickly sent out a message of his own requesting that the super soldier would come to the Citadel to meet with him and the Council as soon as possible. He knew that the message had been received the moment that Captain Bailey of C-Sec called up to let him know that Captain America had arrived on the station, and now all he could do was wait until the living legend arrived in his office for the meeting.

Anderson just wished he was waiting for the captain alone right now, as the other members of the Council felt that they should hold the meeting through the comm. station in his office, and they had already opened up the line between them. He could understand their caution, given the rumors of the captain's involvement with Cerberus, but he would have preferred if they would have at least waited until he confirmed for himself whether or not the man in question truly was Captain America. _"This meeting would be more productive if Udina was to join us,"_ the asari councilor, Tevos commented after a few more minutes of silence.

"My advisor is unavailable," Anderson informed his fellow councilor. "As councilor, I represent the voice of humanity and the Alliance. I'm sure that Captain America will be here at any moment."

 _"How can you even be certain that the man in question is the famed hero of your species that he claims to be,"_ the turian councilor, Sparatus demanded.

"I would have been able to determine that myself, had you all not been so impatient in starting the meeting and decided to call ahead of the agreed meeting time," Anderson practically snapped in reply.

Before anyone could say anything more, the door to Anderson's office suddenly swished open, admitting entry to Garrus, Kasumi, Spider-Man, and Captain America himself. A small glance at the red, white, and blue clad hero immediately told Anderson that the man certainly had the suit right, and he could see the edges of the vibranium shield that the super soldier was known to carry, but after taking a few more minutes to study him, Anderson could honestly find no visible evidence that would state that the man was anyone other than who he claimed to be, especially if the feeling of confidence and command that would compel someone to follow him to the gates of hell the man gave off was anything to go by. Still, he had to be absolutely sure, so he allowed the four to approach him before he gave a small smile and exchanged a handshake with the captain as he said, "Well you certainly look the part, and you give off the same feeling that he's been said to give off, but I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions to determine you really are Captain America."

"You can ask whatever you want, Councilor, but I've found that actions do a better job of convincing people than words do. I am Captain America, the same man who led the Secret Avengers during the Superhero Civil War during the time of the SRA, who led the Avengers against the Phoenix Five, and who helped Tony Stark, better known as Iron Man, start up the Avengers World Initiative that allowed me to form a whole new team of Avengers in order to save Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thor from a pair of aliens that had taken them prisoner on Mars," Steve said in response.

Hearing those words and the conviction behind them, along with the honest look in Steve's eyes, immediately told Anderson exactly what he needed to know before he had even asked one question, and he was shocked into a state of speechlessness. When he managed to work past it though, he simply smiled and said, "Well with a speech like that, I guess I don't need to ask those questions after all. It's an honor to meet you, Captain America."

"The pleasure is all mine, Councilor Anderson, but please, just call me Steve. Captain Steve Rogers," the super soldier smiled in response.

"With pleasure, and welcome back," Anderson nodded.

The moment was quickly ruined though when the other councilors brought their attention back to the matter at hand, starting when the salarian councilor, Valern stated, _"We've heard many rumors surrounding your unexpected return, sir, and some of them are…unsettling."_

 _"We called this meeting so that you could explain yourself, Mister Rogers, though it is mostly as a favor to Councilor Anderson. After all, his late protégé, Commander Shepard did save our lives in the battle against Saren and his geth,"_ Tevos then added on.

The latter statement caught Steve's attention, as he was well aware of the fact that Saren and the geth were not the true masterminds behind that battle, but he had a strong hunch as to why they were saying that instead. In addition to that, there was one other matter that he needed to address. "With all due respect, Councilor, I would prefer if you would address me as Captain, since the last I checked, I had never formally left the service," Steve stated with a slightly sharp tone. "Furthermore, I don't think I really need to explain myself when it sounds as though you're accusing me of betraying the entire galaxy right off the bat."

 _"You would do well to watch your mouth,_ Captain _,"_ Sparatus said in a barely repressed snarl. _"This is not like that little farce with the supposed 'Phoenix' you and those other human vigilantes dealt with in Earth's Age of Marvels."_

Seeing that Spider-Man and Steve had just gone a little rigged at Sparatus's words, Tevos immediately sought to prevent an incident from breaking out and asked, _"Might I inquire as to why you would feel that there's no need to explain yourself, Captain? We merely wish to know why you would willingly join Cerberus, a group that you have no doubt learned by now is a well-known terrorist group of human supremacy extremists."_

"Simple," Steve said. "Because I'm not going to waste my breath talking to the most corrupt politicians I've ever laid eyes on, especially since I can see it in your eyes that no matter what I say, you've already decided to condemn me either way."

Each of the three councilors had to pause a little in surprise at the latter part of Steve's statement, indicating that the super soldier was likely correct in his assumption, but it did nothing to deter the anger two of them held after hearing how Steve had addressed them in the former part. _"You would dare to speak of us as though we are nothing more than the flawed government systems your world held a century ago,"_ Valern demanded.

"As a matter of fact, no, I wouldn't, because that would be insulting to those governments," Steve replied. "Denying the quarians the right to an embassy and a colony world simply because they created the geth, despite the fact that everyone involved in that is long dead; sterilizing the krogan after giving up any hopes of negotiation; doing absolutely nothing as thousands of humans were abducted or killed by batarians and simply saying 'they knew the risks' after it had happened; and let's not even mention how you're now just ignoring the tens of thousands of humans who had disappeared from numerous colonies while I'm actually working the one group that is trying to put a stop to that. Tell me how that doesn't sound like a result of corrupt leadership to you?"

"You know, in all honesty, I'm not all that crazy about unleashing the genophage on the krogan myself. Your people and the salarians should be ashamed of themselves, Garrus," Peter whispered to the turian sniper.

Garrus just rolled his eyes in response before replying, "Hey, not everyone sees it that way, but then again, most turians and krogan haven't become good friends with one another like I did with Wrex."

"I thought you hated each other."

"No, we just had more of a sibling rivalry thing going between us."

The council on the other hand, was completely silent, as they were not expecting someone to call them out on such matters, but in the end, Tevos was able to regain herself and reply, _"That may be the case, Captain, but you are still working with Cerberus, an avowed enemy of the Council. Such a thing is treason, a capital offense."_

"That's too far," Anderson snapped. "Captain America is a hero to humanity, and to a few alien races as well! Maybe some of those alien races won't do anything, but if you really go through with what you're suggesting then you will be making an enemy out of the entirety of humanity. I don't just mean diplomatically, I mean all of humanity. Every civilian, every soldier, every single human in existence will be calling for the Council's heads, and let's not forget that the Kree and the Shi'ar will be right behind us as well, much like how they were during the First Contact War of Shanxi."

"And they won't be the only ones, either," Garrus said as he stepped forward. "I've seen this man risk his life to save mine, and others have seen him do the same for several dozen lives that were dying on Omega, and I can guarantee that a lot of them will be willing to stand with humanity if you do that."

Everyone was beginning to think that this would likely escalate into a major incident if things kept going the way they were going, especially seeing as Spider-Man looked like he was preparing to jump out the window and swing over to the three councilors' current locations if they continued on the current plan of action, until Steve stepped forward and snapped, "Stand down, Garrus!" The turian did not like being told to back off when it was so obvious that a friend was being bullied like this, but he did so anyway and allowed Steve to speak with the council again. "In all honesty, I don't care what actions you decide to take in regards to my current situation. The Collectors are targeting human colonies and abducting the people who live there, and the Cerberus cell I'm working with is the only one doing anything about it. Make no mistake though, I'm not working for Cerberus, they're working for me, and the minute that I don't need them anymore or they double-cross me, I fully intend to cut all ties with them. Until then, you can condemn me all you want. Start a smear campaign, begin relating my name with the devil's, call me a terrorist and a traitor to my kind, it won't matter, because I will keep fighting the good fight, even if I have to fight it alone."

 _"And why would you want to do that if you do end up in that situation,"_ Sparatus asked in a tone that was actually not as superior and distrusting as it normally was whenever he was dealing with humans.

"The simple reason is because I would be following the example of an old friend," Steve replied. "He was often called the most terrible things you could think of, and hated by so many people, but through it all, he always did whatever he could to help people. I spoke to the rescue workers and civilians that he had helped to save, and they always told me about how he would throw his life in the way of danger for the sake of others, never asking for recognition, or reward, or even thanks. It doesn't matter what the news, the politicians, or even the various worlds say, because they don't define who you are. You do, and not by your words, but by your actions. The truth will always come out, but until then, I intend to keep fighting to save lives and for the sake of true freedom, just like he always has and always will."

Even though no one could see it, Spider-Man was blushing a little when he heard that, knowing that Cap was talking about him, since the super soldier had said almost the exact same thing to him once not too long ago. Until that point, he had always looked up to Steve as a great role model and a hero, much like so many other people had, but from the way Steve would say things like that, it almost made it sound like the web-head was as much of an inspiration for Captain America as the super soldier was for Spider-Man. Looking on at the other occupants of the meeting, it was clear that despite not knowing exactly who Steve was talking about, his words had certainly reached the other three councilors in some small way. Obviously they still held some mistrust towards the captain, which one could see in their eyes, but it had now diminished as a result of hearing all that Steve had just said.

Hearing Steve's words, and honestly not wanting to start a serious incident with humanity by charging one of their greatest heroes with a capital offense, Tevos managed to shake off her awe and said, _"Maybe there's a compromise to all of this. Not a public acknowledgement, given your ties, but something that will show a small token of trust and support, Captain."_

 _"No! It would be one thing if this was Commander Shepard, but to do what I think you are suggesting is not acceptable in the slightest,"_ Sparatus argued.

 _"But to do otherwise would likely be seen as an insult to humanity, and to all the humans who had sacrificed their lives to save ours,"_ Valern reasoned, having understood why Tevos was suggesting what she seemed to be.

"I'm listening," Steve stated, getting everyone's attention back on track.

Sparatus just looked between his fellow councilors and the captain he finally sighed in defeat and said, _"Rogers, if you are being in honest in your claims to sever ties with Cerberus the moment that your current mission is complete, assuming it is as great a threat as you seem to believe it is, then if you can keep a low profile and restrict your operations to the Terminus Systems, the Council would be willing to offer you unofficial status as a Spectre."_

"What does that mean?"

 _"Think of this as a show of trust and good faith that you are honest in what you have told us,"_ Tevos explained. _"We cannot become directly involved in an investigation regarding the missing colonies in the Terminus System, especially one that's being led by Cerberus, though it is not for the reasons you may think, Captain. However, making you an unofficial Spectre shows our support of you, personally, but within reason. If something happens that would cause you to lose our faith in you which you do not explain as soon as possible, then we will be forced to brand you as a traitor that should be hunted down as soon as possible."_

Steve was a bit upset that the Council was still refusing to do anything in response to the Collectors' actions, but he could still understand where they were coming from. It was rather difficult to believe any form of information that came from a terrorist group, but hearing that they were willing to show a little faith in him by offering unofficial status as a Spectre was actually a bit more than he had been expecting as a positive result from them. After giving this a few more minutes of thought, Steve eventually have to ask, "Would I have access to the same resources other Spectres are granted?"

 _"Within reason, yes,"_ Sparatus nodded. _"We can't allow you to have access to certain Spectre-class weapons, but you will still be allowed to go anywhere that you deem necessary and act above the authority of any regular forces and law-enforcement."_

"That seems acceptable," Steve finally nodded in agreement after another minute.

 _"Then we will wish you good luck, Captain, and hope that your relationship with Cerberus will come to a quick end,"_ Tevos said before she and the other councilors ended the communication.

After a minute of silence, Spider-Man finally said, "Well all things considered, that could've gone a lot worse."

"You think," Garrus asked before he turned to fully address a rather weary looking Anderson. "Anderson, it's good to see you again."

"Likewise, Garrus," Anderson replied as he exchanged a handshake with the turian sniper. "I honestly thought I'd seen the last of you during the old _Normandy_ 's last visit to the Citadel. Glad to see I was wrong about that."

"Well what can I say? Cap is just as persuasive as Shepard was," Garrus shrugged in good-natured reply.

"Speaking of which, Captain, you do realize that despite what they said, the Council's offer is just symbolic. Aside from allowing you to be able to have the same clearance to certain areas and locations that Spectres are granted, they won't actually do anything," Anderson asked Steve as the rest of the team came over.

"Even if they don't help, there's no harm in trying to stay on good terms, despite how they're on bad terms with me," Steve shrugged.

"Still, the way that one guy talked about the whole Phoenix Five incident, or really just Earth's encounters with the Phoenix in general made it seem like they believe in its existence as much as they do the Reapers'. It kind of pisses me off. I mean, I still have some bruises and old aches and pains from where I was hurt by the Phoenix-fied Colossus and Magik that would attest to how real that fire bird was," Peter grumbled aloud.

Looking over the red and blue clad hero for a minute, Anderson had to raise an eyebrow towards Steve, silently asking the question that Steve was sure the human councilor was wondering, and the super soldier immediately nodded in response as he said, "Yes, he's really the same Spider-Man from all those years ago."

"But how is he here," Anderson asked.

"It's a long, complicated story that you could more than likely only believe if you've lived a life as crazy as the one I've led or as the one led by any member of the Avengers," Spidey replied for the captain.

Before Anderson could say anything in response, a man in a white suit with grey hair came rushing into his office with a slightly irritated look on his face. "Anderson, we need to talk about…" the man started to say, but the minute his eyes found Captain America, his irritated look immediately changed to one of unbridled furry and mistrust. "What the hell is that _man_ doing here?"

"You could try asking me yourself, Mister…" Steve replied, trailing off at the end as a way of asking for the newcomer's name.

"Ambassador Donnel Udina, sir," Udina snarled in response before turning his attention to Anderson. "You still haven't answered my question, Anderson. Why is that Cerberus imposter here?"

"Well he seems like a real joy to play with," Spider-Man whispered to Garrus in heavy sarcasm.

"Oh you have no idea," Garrus replied.

"I invited Captain America here to speak with the Council, and we just finished our meeting," Anderson finally answered Udina.

"You what," Udina gasped in outrage. "Councilor, do the words 'political shit storm' mean anything to you, because that's the kind description of what bringing _him_ here would cause. It's clear as day that Cerberus is using whatever this _man_ is to disgrace the legacy of Captain America by having him further their goals."

"Excuse me, Ambassador, but I can promise you that I am Captain America, and I'm only working with Cerberus to stop the Collectors from abducting the citizens of human colonies," Steve retorted, not liking how Udina was referring to him in the least.

"And I'm supposed to believe your words," Udina asked. "For all we know, you're just some pale, Cerberus imitation that was grown or manufactured in a lab somewhere, meant to earn our trust to the point where you can kill us all the minute we let our guard down."

"Now that is enough, Udina," Anderson snapped. "If you were to get your head out of your pessimistic, mistrusting nature for more than five seconds, then you would be able to see just as clearly as anyone else could that this _is_ Captain America. Besides, the Council has already granted him unofficial Spectre status so long as he keeps to the Terminus System for the moment, and they are hoping that he will be severing his ties with Cerberus as soon as possible."

"Yes, I can see why that would make sense, despite how foolish a decision that would be," Udina mused aloud. "Allowing him access to Spectre privileges and resources is dangerous, but it also allows us to keep a better eye on him. Even so, you really shouldn't have taken a step like this without consulting with me first, Councilor."

"I don't answer to you, Udina! Why don't you go to your office and think about that for a while," Anderson snapped, making it quite clear that Udina had now gone far past outliving his welcome.

"Of course, Councilor. Good day to you, and only you," Udina nodded in response while adding a small sneer at the end as he directed the last bit towards Rogers before he finally turned and left.

Once Udina was out of his office, Anderson let out a tired sigh and said, "Sorry about that. Udina's never gotten over the fact that I got the Council position instead of him. Sometimes I need to put him in his place."

Steve nodded in understanding, having seen those kind of people a few times before, but he still felt that he had to ask about something that Udina had made quite clear. "Any reason why he's so insistent on me being a fake?"

"As far as I can tell, Udina just doesn't trust you because of the fact that Cerberus brought you back," Anderson replied. "As he's already indicated, he thinks that you're probably a clone or some highly advanced mech that's doing a very good job of pretending to be you."

"Can we please not bring up clones," Peter mumbled from the side.

Steve gave a small mental roll of his eyes at Peter's discomfort about the subject of clones, even though he knew the reason behind it, and simply told Anderson, "I can understand where he's coming from, and besides, I'm sure he's just doing his job."

"True enough, and he's got his uses," Anderson admitted. "If you want to get something done on the Citadel, he knows who to talk to, and he's more than happy to attend all those diplomatic functions that I can't be bothered with." Anderson then moved to gaze out on the Presidium below them in thought before he finally said, "You know, I honestly think that you'll be doing the _Normandy SR-1_ proud if you handle things on that ship of yours right, Captain. I still remember the day I saw the ship when it was finished. Sure the _SR-2_ would probably be considered a cheap knockoff in comparison, but I get the feeling that you'll help it live up to the reputation that its namesake holds."

Steve nodded in thanks for that before joining Anderson and gazing out over the Presidium from his office's balcony, before he finally decided to get something off his chest. "I was told that Commander Shepard was a close friend of yours. I'm sorry about your loss."

"Don't worry about it. That's a wound that's three years old by now," Anderson attempted to wave off, though it was obvious that thinking about it was still a bit painful for him. After another minute, Anderson finally decided to add on to what he was saying. "Shepard was actually a lot more than just my protégé; he was like a son to me. You know he actually grew up on the hard streets of Earth with no parents to speak of, so I guess I'd like to think that the feeling was mutual. I just wish that everything he had managed to do before his death hadn't been swept away like dust."

Steve could see that this was something that really bothered Anderson, and so, he could not help but place a comforting hand on the councilor's shoulder as a way of easing the pain a little as he said, "Still, I am sorry about it. From what I've been told, he seemed like a good man."

"Yes, he was. One of the best men I'd ever met, to be honest," Anderson nodded. He then righted himself before he turned to Steve and continued, "The _Normandy SR-1_ couldn't have asked for a better captain than Shepard, and now it's your turn to show that you're the same way. No matter what happens out there, just know that humanity is behind you, Captain."

Steve smiled in response and then snapped a quick salute to the councilor as he said, "Yes sir. I won't let you down. Now if you'll excuse me, my team and should probably get going. We've still got a few more team members to recruit."

"Of course, and don't worry about the Council too much. I'll do what I can to keep them off your back. It's the least I can do after all that you've done for humanity in the past, Rogers," Anderson nodded in understanding.

Steve nodded in thanks for that, and then turned to lead his team back to their ship, feeling that things might be a little easier now with the status that he had just been given. Even so, there was no denying that there was a certain amount of pressure building up on the group after hearing about everything they had just heard, but they were all fairly certain that they would somehow live up to the expectations that were now upon them.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay so, when you all leave a review, please be honest in how you think I had Cap's meeting with Council play out, because if you have a suggestion on a way that you think it could've gone better I am open to it. Just try to be as detailed as possible when you do. Also, a small part of that speech Cap gave to the Council near the end of the meeting, that was actually something of a quote from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, you know, the cartoon series, which I am currently doing a crossover story on with Code Lyoko, which features Ulrich and Aelita? You get the idea._**

 ** _Garrus: Mind explaining why you had the Council give Cap unofficial Spectre status?_**

 ** _AN: Well that was something of the plan. As you may recall, Shepard's being a Spectre is a huge reason why he's been able to do as much and go as many places as he could in the games, so if I wanted Captain America to be able to really get through this without giving me a major headache, I had to give Cap a similar status as well. Like I said, it's not official Spectre status, but at least Steve will be able to get into places most people wouldn't normally be able to without much hassle._**

 ** _Tali: And it looks like Udina is just as good of a person to be around as ever._**

 ** _AN: Well, I know that Mass Effect 3 revealed Udina to be part of Cerberus, but I felt that it would make things more interesting if he expressed a great level of mistrust towards Cap._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Forget about that! You practically put me in the same position with Kasumi that you put me in with Aria! What the hell?!_**

 ** _AN: Oh come on, Spidey, lighten up a little. Besides, aside from the way the two dress and the fact that one has more advanced tech than the other, who can really tell me that they don't see how much alike Kasumi and Black Cat are? Also, for those of you who actually liked the Future Foundation Spider-Man suit, my apologies for giving it crap, but I honestly do think that it was not one Spider-Man's best suits, because as stated earlier, it makes him look a bit like Anti-Venom._**

 ** _Captain America: And let's not forget about the little cameos you worked in there._**

 ** _AN: Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder of that, Cap. Yeah, I worked in a Stan Lee cameo and I did it at the same time as the cameo appearance for myself, which, in case you did not know this already, is through my OC avatar, Dave. You'll find information on him in my profile, but the short version is that Dave's an OC that basically acts as me when I want to make a cameo appearance in my stories. I am actually quite proud of myself for working in a cameo appearance for both Stan the Man Lee and myself in the same chapter, the same scene, and having them hanging out together. I mean, how cool is that, and how much cooler would that be in real life?!_**

 ** _Miranda: Are you done?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah...yeah, I'm done with my little geek out. So, that's all said and done, and yeah, I think this probably turned out shorter than the other chapters so far, but still ended up being longer than I originally predicted. So again, please be honest in how you think the meeting with the Council went, and let me know if you have an idea on how it could be improved, as I may or may not go back and try to improve upon it later, if possible. Until then though, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team departs from the Citadel and flies off to the prison ship known as_** **Purgatory _so that they can add their next recruit: the powerful biotic known only as Jack. Some are bit wary of adding a known criminal who's kill count extends up into triple digits at minimum, but given what they know about Jack's biotic potential, they can't deny that he will be a powerful asset if they can convince him to join them. That is assuming everything goes the way they're hoping it will, but then again, do things ever go the way that any of these heroes hope? Find out what happens next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	6. Dossier: The Convict

_**AN: Hey everybody, and welcome back to another chapter of Avenging Normandy, and I'm sure you all know by now who's next to be added to the team's roster if you've read the title for this chapter and the preview from the previous chapter. Anyways, not much else for me to say this time, so I won't keep you guys from reading another installment of my genius for any lon...[cut off when explosion throw from seat] WHAT THE HELL! Okay, who's the wise guy who tried to...[pales when he sees who did it, and that said person is clearly very angry] Oh, hey Hulk. Big guy. Gamma Bud. What're you doing...**_

 _ **Hulk: [grabs AN in his massive hand] You made Hulk not be in this story. I WANTED TO SMASH SOME KROGAN! Hulk smash author now!**_

 _ **AN: Now, now, Hulk, let's try not to let the Hulk Rage think for us. If you smash me, then I won't be able to update any of the stories that you are in, so before you try to...AAAAAAHHHHH! [runs out of room like crazy]**_

 _ **Hulk: HULK SMASH LYOKOMARVELANIME! [runs into door just as it is sealed shut and locked from the outside]**_

 _ **AN: Thank goodness I went for a door that would hold against a Hulk...at least for a while.**_

 _ **Spider-Man: Hey, what's going on, lyokoMARVELanime?  
**_

 _ **Garrus: Everything okay?**_

 _ **AN: No! The freaking Hulk is trying to smash me! He's upset about the fact that he's technically not in this story.**_

 _ **Hulk: [muffled] HULK SMASH [bangs against the door]**_

 _ **AN: [cringes] I need you guys to suit up and keep him busy with whoever else you can find so I can start the story.**_

 _ **Garrus &Spidey: We're on it.**_

 _ **[door blasts open and Hulk starts chasing after AN until AN is cornered]**_

 ** _Garrus: [fires a shot with his sniper rifle between Hulk's eyes] Well, that should've gotten his attention._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Easy big guy. Let's just try to keep it cool. After all, us Avengers have to stick together._**

 ** _AN: [stares at Spider-Man for a minute] Uh, Spidey, wrong costume._**

 ** _Spider-Man:...What?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, you're wearing your outfit from Code: Avengers, and this is Avenging Normandy._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Well, I just kinda figured that..._**

 ** _AN: Just go change so you actually stand a chance against him._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Fine. [leaves to get his armor]_**

 ** _Garrus: Well, at least its still two-on-one, right lyokoMARVELanime...lyokoMARVEL? [looks to see the author has vanished and sealed himself in another room while he's left with the Hulk. Smiles nervously before rushing to bang on the door] lyokoMARVEL! lyokoMARVEL!_**

 ** _AN: Sorry Garrus, but the needs of the readers and me, outweigh the needs of you in this case._**

 ** _Garrus: HE'S GOING TO KILL ME!_**

 ** _AN: No, he's going to smash you, and besides, that's show business. Look just keep him busy long enough for me to get the chapter going._**

 ** _Garrus: [looks to the Hulk to see him slowly getting closer] Uh...Avengers assemble? [starts screaming when Hulk starts smashing]_**

 ** _AN: Okay, while they're hanging around out there, plot a course to the chapter!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story_**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Dossier: The Convict**

After returning to the _Normandy_ and finding that everyone who had left the ship had completed their assigned tasks, Steve immediately had Joker depart from the station's dock and then set a course for the maximum security prison ship, _Purgatory_ , so that they could recruit the dangerous and highly unstable biotic known simply as Jack. Admittedly, Steve was not too fond of asking a known criminal for help in this mission, especially one with such a high body count, but given what they were up against, Steve could see the need for someone who's biotic abilities were as great as Jack's were reported to be. Of course, his feelings about recruiting someone as dangerous Jack was were easily shared by some of the crew, but none more so than Peter, as the web-head made quite clear when he took on a very foul mood that Steve could most closely associate with the one he had when he was nearly taken over by the symbiote, but he had to hope that everyone would eventually come to understand the need for such a person on their mission before they arrived at the prison ship.

There was also one other matter of concern in regards to their next recruitment mission, and that was the fact that _Purgatory_ was run by the Blue Suns. No one was going to kid themselves into thinking that the mercenary gang had not spread word about the actions that the team had taken against them on Omega to their other divisions, so Steve made a strong point in making sure that everyone who would be going onto the prison ship with him would be ready for a double-cross at some point just to be safe. Cerberus may have paid for _Purgatory_ to release Jack to them, but Steve knew full well that it was usually a very bad idea to take such dangerous, known criminals at their word alone in such matters. Once he was certain that everything they would need for that mission was ready, Steve moved on to speak with some of his newest crewmembers one-on-one while he still had some time, thinking that it was long overdue in some cases more than others.

He had wanted to start by talking with Kasumi, but when he reached the port observation deck, which the master thief had claimed as her quarters, he saw that somehow, the hooded girl had convinced Peter to stop by for a minute to talk when the spider hero was able to take a break from his work with Mordin and down in the engine room. Steve figured that it would probably be better to let the two talk on their own for a moment, and instead moved over to the Main Battery to see how Garrus was doing. When Garrus heard the door open, he immediately turned to see the captain walking in, and paused his work to ask, "Need me for something, Captain?"

"Just Steve is fine, Garrus. No need to stand on formalities," Rogers informed the scarred turian. After receiving a nod of acceptance from Garrus, Steve then went on to add, "So, what can you tell me about the ship's armaments?"

"Well Cerberus seems to have upgraded what the ship carried before," Garrus explained. "Should have a bit more kick, but I still don't like our chances against a Collector ship though. Not unless we upgrade the guns, anyway."

"Think you can do that?"

"Pete and I have been throwing around a couple ideas, actually, but I think he prefers to put more of his genius into the engines and shields for the ship. Something about adapting ARC Reactor and repulsor tech to both. You'd have to ask him about it, assuming you can understand the basics," Garrus admitted.

Steve nodded in understanding of this, and decided to get to one of the other reasons that he was checking in. "Have any of the Cerberus crewmen given you any trouble?"

"I think being part of the team that took down Saren got me some points, and everyone I talk to is polite, anyway," Garrus replied. "Don't worry, Cap; we're all working together just fine."

That did ease Steve's concerns a bit, as he was actually a bit worried that some of the Cerberus crew would have a bit of a problem working with a Turian, even if it was someone like Garrus. He then remembered something that had been mentioned back when they first met on Omega, and decided that now was as good a time as any to ask about it. "You know, I don't think we ever really had much of a chance to really talk outside of business since I met you, so why don't we try to change that?"

"Fair enough, after all, there really isn't all that much I don't know about you, considering how much Peter would talk about you," Garrus shrugged before waving a hand over to an area next to the station he was working at, silently telling Steve he could make himself comfortable somewhere if he wanted to. "Of course, that's really not saying much given that he talks a lot about several different things, especially in regards to some of the people from Earth's Age of Marvels."

"And I'm guessing the two people he talked about more than anyone else would be a certain pair of women; one a redhead by the name of Mary Jane Watson and the other a blonde named Gwen Stacy, right," Steve inquired as he leaned against a guard rail surrounding the mechanisms of the ship's main gun.

"Well, you're partially right," Garrus chuckled. "He did say a lot about those two, though not as much about Gwen, seeing as that's a sensitive subject for him, but in all honesty, there was this one girl from that time period he talked about more than any other, and she was blonde. I think he said her name was something like Karen…or was it Carla…"

"Wait, do you mean Carol," Steve asked.

"Yeah that's it," Garrus nodded in confirmation. "Do you know her?"

Steve immediately adopted a nostalgic smile as he said, "Carol Danvers is an old friend and teammate of mine from the Avengers. She's had careers as a model, an air force pilot, and a few other jobs, but most people tend to remember her better for her heroic persona of Ms. Marvel, even after she took on the mantle of her late partner, Captain Marvel."

"Wait, do you mean Captain Marvel as in the same Captain Marvel who's currently a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy," Garrus inquired.

That got Steve's attention, as he immediately raised a questioning eyebrow as he asked, "You mean she's still around?"

"Yeah," Garrus confirmed. "In all honesty, I wasn't really all that sure if she was the same Captain Marvel that Peter was telling me about or not, but after hearing you talk about her, I'm pretty sure she is. Not that anyone could really tell you for certain, considering she doesn't even look like she's over a century old. If anything, I'd say she looks the same age that you and Peter appear to be. I have to ask though, were Peter and Carol ever involved…romantically?"

Steve's smile immediately returned when he heard that question, but this time it was more humorous than it was nostalgic, as he said, "I don't really know all that much for certain, but I do know that they went on a date once, and it was…disastrously awkward, or something to that effect. Anything beyond that though, I've never really seen because they always seemed to either have an antagonistic friendship or a professional one."

"I see," Garrus laughed in reply. "Still, it's always good to hear about how there were once so many people on Earth trying to do good, even when everyone including their government was against them."

"Speaking of doing good, I don't think I've gotten a full answer as to how one of the most famous turians in the galaxy ended up fighting crime on Omega," Steve then remarked.

Garrus got another laugh out of that comment as he replied, "I wouldn't say I'm one of the most famous turians, but I suppose Peter and I never did tell you the whole story." The former vigilante's expression became a bit more somber after his laughter finally ceased as he began the tale. "Before going to Omega, I'd thought I'd seen every weapon in the galaxy in the old _Normandy_ 's fight against Saren, but mercenary work quickly showed me otherwise, and now Cerberus rebuilds the _Normandy_ with a few upgrades to boot."

"Speaking of which, I really have to ask again if you are okay working with Cerberus," Steve interrupted.

"Well I can't exactly doubt your judgment on this, Steve. Not after I got my own squad killed," Garrus revealed, sadly. "Back on topic though, as I told you before, I trained to become a Spectre after the _Normandy SR-1_ was destroyed, but it didn't work out. Too much politicking at the Citadel, and nobody was willing to take any risks in order to get the job done. Omega, on the other hand, was filled with criminals nobody else could touch, and since there was no red tape to slow me down, it was the perfect fit. People there needed someone to believe in, someone to stand up to the local thugs, and for a while, that was me, and then it became me and Peter."

"But how did you end up with a squad? Was Spidey ever part of it," Steve inquired.

"No, I met Peter after I got my squad killed," Garrus revealed. "As for how I ended up with a squad at all, it actually wasn't too different from how Shepard formed his squad to fight Saren, actually. You prove that you get things done, and people join up. Mercs who wanted to atone, security consultants who were tired of playing by the rules, former military operatives, C-Sec agents, you name it. They were all willing to follow me so that they could live a better life and help others do the same on Omega, and I gave them hope…and now they're dead. Shows what I know."

Steve was actually rather intrigued about Garrus's team after hearing all of that, but it was clear that Garrus probably did not like talking about them that much. That would not stop him from asking a few more questions about the group though. "What did your little merc squad do? It doesn't sound like you were anything like the Heroes For Hire."

"I always did think that such a group was a bit strange ever since I first heard about them," Garrus muttered to himself before he answered Steve's question. "You saw Omega. It was full of thugs kicking the helpless, so I formed my team to kick back. We weren't mercenaries, or Heroes For Hire…at least, nobody was paying us. We made money by taking down slavers, pirates, or gangs that went too far."

"Doesn't sound like you made any friends with the gangs," Steve noted.

"I got three separate merc bands to work together to take me down, and that was even before Spider-Man joined up with me," Garrus pointed out. "My manager at C-Sec would be impressed even if I didn't do it alone. It was simple; we'd hit their shipments, disrupt their activities, get under their skin and make them angry, and then they'd come charging right into our well-prepared kill zone: crossfire and snipers, clean and surgical. They never stood a chance."

"No offense, but it almost sounds like you were just another gang," Steve observed.

"Well the same could probably have been said about your Avengers at one point or another, but in either case, I'd be saying it wrong," Garrus disputed. "We didn't shake anyone down. No civilian casualties; that was our rule. Every member of my team had lost someone to Omega's gangs. We weren't out to get rich; we were out to make those bastards think twice before murdering someone in the street."

Steve was very impressed by hearing all this. It honestly sounded pretty similar to how some of the heroes that came from Hell's Kitchen started out, at least from his perspective, and Garrus seemed quite proud of what they had been doing. The only problem was, there was still one question left unanswered, and as much as Steve did not want to, he knew that he had to ask anyway. "How did those mercenaries take down your team?"

Garrus look down in shame for a minute before he finally revealed, "It was my own damn fault. One of my people betrayed me; a turian named Sidonis. He drew me away just before the mercs attacked my squad, and then he disappeared. Everyone but me is dead because of him, and because I didn't see it coming." When Garrus looked over to see Steve's confused look, he knew that the legendary captain was likely going to need more than that, so he went on to elaborate. "Sidonis asked for my help on a job, but when I got to the meeting point, nobody was there. By the time I got back to our hideout, the mercs had killed all but two of my squad, and they didn't last long."

"What makes you so sure it was a betrayal," Steve asked. "Is there a chance that Sidonis was just the first one to be taken out?"

"No. I put out feelers with some old contacts," Garrus stated. "He booked transport off Omega just before the attack, and he also cleared out his private accounts before he left. He sold me out and ran."

That was definitely incriminating evidence if Steve had ever heard of it. "Do you know where he is now?"

"No, his trail vanishes after he left Omega, but I'll keep hunting," Garrus promised. "I lost my whole team except for Sidonis. One day I'll find him and correct that." That actually worried Steve a little, and Garrus was able to figure that out from the look on the super soldier's face, so he quickly said, "Don't try to tell me not to, Steve. Peter's already tried, but I intend to make sure that I find the bastard someday and make sure that he pays for allowing so many good people to lose their lives that day."

"Trust me soldier, I know what that's like, and I don't intend to stand in your way unless you give me good reason to," Steve reassured the turian. "But you know, that still doesn't explain how you ended up with Peter."

Garrus adopted a small smile of fond remembrance at that point, and revealed, "To be honest, it was actually a little unexpected and unintentional. You see, after losing my team, I made a promise to keep working alone for as long as I kept doing what I had been doing on Omega, but that started to change when the rumors about a human with incredible abilities fighting the gangs started popping up. At first, I figured it was just people smoking some really good stuff and dismissed it, until I accidentally let myself get cornered by the Blood Pack one day. I was sure that was it for me, and was more than ready to join Shepard and my old squad in death, when out of nowhere, this skinny human in bright red and blue tights literally swings in and starts throwing each member of the Blood Pack around like they're nothing and most of them were krogans. I could hardly believe my eyes; here was some small human, who was practically half the size of a full grown krogan, and he was throwing these guys around like they were nothing while leaping around and evading their attacks with a kind of grace and flexibility that I didn't think was possible for humans."

Steve had to smile a little when he heard that before he commented, "Well Peter did once tell me that his spider-DNA allows him to obtain a kind of flexibility and acrobatic prowess that most normal humans couldn't hope to be able to obtain without special equipment at the very least, and that his Spider-Sense often helps direct him when he's swinging around opponents and even the city in the way that he does."

"Yeah, he mentioned that to me later that day, too," Garrus remembered aloud. "Anyway, after seeing him do all that, I was stunned, speechless, but he still had something to say when he saw me, and the first thing he said was that I should be ashamed of myself for ripping off the name of someone in some group called the X-Men. I told him to just go home and forget trying to do the vigilante thing, but instead of listening, he just told me to shove it in his own way and followed me back to my hideout. A few idle conversations and team-ups later, and we had become full-fledged partners, and I have to admit, that I'm glad we did, because I sometimes think he somehow made me a better person than I could've been if I had kept working alone."

Steve nodded in reply, happy to hear that Garrus was another person that Spider-Man had managed to change for the better, and then decided that he had heard all he need to hear from the scarred turian. "Thanks for your time, Garrus. I'll leave you to your work. Just don't hesitate to let me know if there's anything you might need."

"Sure thing, Cap, and thanks for coming by to talk," Garrus nodded, and with that, the super soldier let Garrus return to his work on the ship's main gun while departing for his next destination: Mordin's lab.

* * *

Mordin was happily humming a little tune to himself while studying the various Collector samples that the team had gathered when Steve finally arrived in his lab, but though he did acknowledge the super soldier's presence, it was still a couple of minutes before he finally paused to look up from his work and give Rogers his somewhat-full attention. "Rogers, how can I help," the salarian professor quickly inquired, not pausing in his typing even as he did.

If he were being honest with himself, Steve had suspected it would take a little time to get used to how Mordin worked and spoke, but he figured it would likely be not that different from how Reed Richards normally worked and socialized while doing so, just a little faster in speech, so he did not mind how Mordin did not seem to really pay much attention to him. "Just checking in on how you're doing, Professor Solus. How is the lab working out for you," Steve asked.

"Quite satisfactory. Found a few surveillance bugs. Destroyed most of them, returned expensive one to Miranda. Nothing unexpected. Just need more samples, more Collector data, tissue samples, anything you can get, I can use. Find new tech," Mordin reported.

Steve nodded in acceptance, as he was not surprised that some of his crew would want to remove some of the surveillance technology that Cerberus had throughout the ship. In fact, he was not ashamed to admit that he had asked Garrus and Peter to help him remove as much Cerberus surveillance technology from his cabin just a short while before they had left the Citadel, so he was fairly certain that any area of the ship that had someone from his ground team working or living in it was free of such bugs. Steve then remembered that Mordin was also a medical professional, so he figured that the professor had more than likely taken a look at the crew's medical records much more thoroughly after he came aboard. It was not that he did not trust Doctor Chakwas to have done her job to the best of her abilities, but there was no harm in getting a second opinion, so that was why he asked, "Is there any medical concerns that you've noted that I should be aware of, at least amongst the team?"

"Cerberus personnel in excellent condition, no squad concerns to report. Always some matters, but nothing affecting immediate mission," Mordin replied.

"That's good to hear, but I was also wondering if you had a minute to talk for a bit," Steve revealed. "I would like to get to know the scientist that's going to be cooking up a countermeasure to the Collector tech for my team."

"Of course. Plenty of time to analyze Collector intelligence," Mordin nodded after he finally paused in his work. "Impressive laboratory setup. Missed working for operations with a budget, AI in particular very helpful. Spider-Man also surprisingly helpful. Did not expect scientist to be under that mask. Best work I've seen since work with Special Tasks Group."

Steve nodded in understanding, though he had to smile a little on the inside when he heard the professor had become one of the many people to admit that he did not expect Spider-Man to be a scientist. "You know, I've actually heard a few things about the Salarian Special Tasks Group, but nothing really more than just passing mentions and the things I've read from the extranet. Mind telling me about it based on your experiences with them," Steve inquired.

"Would be happy to," Mordin nodded enthusiastically. "Respected organization, clandestine, handles difficult assignments with limited oversight. Recon, analysis, occasional wet-work, identify problems, have neutralization options ready should need arise. Model for Council Spectres based on Special Tasks Group. Very similar."

"I was not aware of that," Steve commented. "How are the two groups similar?"

"Salarians lack numbers, brute strength, military prowess; have to rely on stealth, intelligence. Agents trusted given wide operative freedom. Spectres similar. Given goal, told to accomplish. Better funded of course. Didn't have to buy our own weapons," Mordin revealed, though he had to chuckle a little at the last comment.

Steve had to smile a little in response to that same comment before he continued. "It must have been rather frustrating working on Omega with such a limited facility, or are you one of those scientists who would've considered that to make it more challenging?"

"Yes, did enjoy challenge. Loved work on Omega. Limited facility did indeed present challenge, save greatest number of people using limited resources," Mordin smiled in confirmation. "Security threats, gangs, mercenary groups add additional difficulty. Quite enjoyable. Plague stretched abilities to limit, couldn't have asked for more. Also enjoyed saving people, of course. Helping the helpless, greater good, all that too. Nice retirement after STG work complete. Don't seem surprised by such thing."

"Let's just say that I knew a few scientists who are a lot like from the Age of Marvels," Steve revealed. "I get the feeling you probably would've gotten along very well with some of them."

"Yes, heard various things about Age of Marvels scientists, both from Spider-Man and from own research into the era. Would have liked to have met Mister Fantastic, personally. Maybe Bruce Banner or Tony Stark as well," Mordin admitted.

"So what kind of research did you do during your time with the STG," Steve asked.

"Not simply research," Mordin corrected. "Several recon missions. Covert, high risk, served under young captain named Kirrahe. Studied krogan genophage, took water, tissue samples from krogan colonies."

"I think I read something about an STG team that was led by a salarian named Kirrahe in my research into the _Normandy SR-1_. If I remember right, that same team helped Commander Shepard destroy a research facility on Virmire," Steve recalled.

"Yes, heard he was part of that," Mordin nodded in reply. "Jury-rigged explosive. Always got job done with limited resources. Good captain. Bit of a cloaca, though. Loved his speeches. 'Hold the line!' Personally prefer to get job done and go home. Probably military bravado, jargon, chest-pounding…uh, no offense."

Steve just waved it off before he moved on to another topic that had caught his interest in what Mordin had said earlier. "Why were the STG studying the genophage?"

"Krogan Rebellions bloody, dangerous, nearly as bad as rachni attacks. All species evolve, adapt, mutate. If genophage weakens, need to be prepared," Mordin replied.

That quickly got Steve rather suspicious, and as a result, he could not keep the small amount of a threatening tone from entering his voice as he asked, "And just what was the STG preparing to do?"

"Military schematics for likely krogan population growth, political scenarios for attack points. Genophage reduced krogan numbers. Species aggression unchecked, population explosion would be disastrous. STG helped check Krogan Rebellions, needed to be ready to do the same. Simple recon, nothing to worry about," Mordin reassured the captain, immediately putting Steve at ease after he heard that.

Steve then remembered something that he had yet to have looked into, and figured that he was currently with the best person to ask about the topic, so he immediately inquired, "What can you tell me about the genophage? I've been hearing a lot about it, but the only thing I've really been able to gather is that it's responsible for slowing the growth of the krogan's population."

"Yes, that is accurate. Bio-weapon designed by salarian science team, deployed by turians against krogans to end Krogan Rebellions more than a thousand years ago. Effects every cell of krogan body. Commonly, and incorrectly considered a sterility plague. Actually adjusts viable fertility rates to compensate for high krogan birthrate, stabilizes to pre-industrial population growth levels."

"I see," Steve nodded in reply, though admittedly, a lot of what he had just heard had actually gone over his head a little, but he chalked that up to the fact that he was not a scientist. "I'll just let you get back to work then. Nice talking with you, Professor Solus."

"Please, simply Mordin is fine, Rogers," Mordin insisted. "Should get back to work now. Need to study. So much data. Here if you need me. Will let Spider-Man know if require further assistance assuming he does not offer it before then."

Steve nodded in reply to Mordin and then turned to leave, just in time to nearly run into Peter as he was walking into the lab. "Sorry about that, Cap," the currently mask-less Spider-Man stated. Peter had taken a cue from Steve and elected to wear his old, iconic red and blue suit while on the ship during times when they were not in immediate danger of some kind, but unlike Steve, Peter would sometimes wear his old mask or just leave it in his cabin instead of just going one way or the other with it.

"Don't worry about it Peter," Steve reassured his young friend. "How was your chat with Kasumi?"

"It was actually alright, you know, when she wasn't trying to match Felicia Hardy in flirting with me," Peter shrugged. "A bit of a kleptomaniac, but still surprisingly friendly. You know she told me that she actually collects old novels, and I mean like the actual books, not a digital copy that you can get on a data pad. Said that her late partner used to get some for her as a present while they were on a job, and that some of the books she owns were actually more valuable than the stuff they were hired to…acquire."

Steve nodded in reply at this new information, having not really expected to learn that the master thief was a novel collector, though he had to do his best to not roll his eyes at Peter's efforts to ignore the fact that Kasumi was a professional thief that was hired to steal things from time to time. Steve then gave Peter a pat on the shoulder and moved on to the CIC while letting Peter continue into Mordin's lab so that the web-head could assist the professor in his work, both knowing that all they could really do now was wait until they had reached their next destination now.

* * *

A few hours later, the _Normandy_ was preparing to make its final approach to the prison ship, _Purgatory_ , and Joker was praying that his ship would not be attacked if a breakout happened while they were there as he prepared to dock the ship so that the team could board. Looking over to his current companion in the cockpit, he had to ask, "Remind me again why you're not going over there with them? You know, aside from the fact that you're not crazy about us recruiting a murdering, psycho biotic. I mean, if something went wrong, wouldn't your little Arachnid-Sense let you know before it happened?"

Indeed, despite the fact that he was now fully suited up in the armor that was now his regular suit, Spider-Man was not going to be a part of the team that would be collecting Jack from _Purgatory_ , not that Peter had a problem with that, but the reasons were not just involving the one that Joker had mentioned. "First off, it's called my Spider-Sense," Peter corrected. "And secondly, it's actually because of that reason that I'm staying here."

"I don't get it," Joker flatly stated.

"If something goes wrong and there is a mass breakout or something, I'll know ahead of time if they are heading towards the ship and immediately start being the guy who acts as the first line of defense against them. Considering what a group of criminals could do if they managed to take over this ship, and how dangerous a lot of the people in a place like this are supposed to be, do you really want to not have the guy who would know they're coming away from the ship?"

"No I guess not," Joker conceded. "But is that just the reason that Cap gave you for why you're getting left behind?"

"Well actually, it was that and something about how the team thought they'd like a mission without my brand of crazy making things more difficult for everyone," Peter shamelessly admitted. "I think they were just worried my sense of humor would offend everyone on the station, and considering how this place is run by the Blue Suns, I can't say that they're wrong to be cautious about that." Peter had to pause as they both got a laugh out of that comment, and after he regained control of himself, he added, "Of course, the last time I was in a prison, there was nearly a mass breakout, and I had to fight off every guy in the joint. The fact that so many of them were gunning for me due to the fact that I had put most of them in there did not help matters, because it ended up causing my Spider-Sense to be practically stuck in permanent tingle. It was blaring so many different warnings at once that I could barely think without it ringing in my head, let alone tell where an attack was coming from."

"Gotcha," Joker nodded as he turned back to his console, only to pause when he registered what Peter had just said. "Wait, did you say that you were in a prison before? Why were you in a prison in the first place?"

"I was helping to test out a new special holding cell for supervillains. It probably would've worked well against some of the more mentally challenged guys like Rhino or Sandman, but against someone who actually knows how to use their brain like me, or say Doc Ock, it never would've worked," Peter revealed. The two then sat in silence for a few minutes as Joker docked the ship with _Purgatory_ 's boarding ramp, until Peter finally asked, "So how're you handling things up here lately? Have you finally found a way to get along with our resident AI?"

"I wouldn't go that far, considering we've been having a little disagreement about the personalization of my workspace," Joker shrugged.

 **"Cerberus regulations are clear, Mister Moreau. Personalization does not include grease on my bridge cameras,"** EDI clarified for Peter as she cut into the conversation, just as she often did in most of Joker's conversations with Peter or really anyone.

"It's just mad that all its footage of me looks like a dream sequence," Joker chuckled, getting a small laugh out of Peter as well at that point. Their laughter only ceased when they heard the tell-tale clunk of the ship finally being connected with _Purgatory_ 's boarding ramp, which was quickly followed by Captain America, Jacob, Miranda, and Garrus passing them on their way to the airlock.

"Try not to make too big of a mess while we're gone, Peter," Garrus joked as he passed.

"Hold on. Wasn't Kasumi supposed to be coming with us," Jacob asked as he stopped in his tracks.

"Would you want to bring the galaxy's best thief onto a prison ship," Steve inquired in reply.

"Good point," Jacob admitted, and the four then headed out to meet with the prison ship's guards. They did not have to go all that far, as the minute they had reached the end of the boarding ramp, they quickly spotted those guards standing just down the hallway from them, and just as the team had expected, he and his companions were completely outfitted in the standard blue and white armor of the Blue Suns.

"Welcome to the _Purgatory_ , Captain Rogers," the guard that was closest to them greeted once they had reached them. "Your package is being prepped and you can claim it shortly. As this is a high-security vessel, you need to relinquish your weapons before we proceed."

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather my team and I hold on to our weapons," Steve informed the guard, making it quite clear in his tone that his team was not going to be handing over their weapons. For a moment, the others thought there was going to be a chance that they would have to fight the guards, until a turian stepped the door and approached them, ordering the other Blue Suns troops to stand down.

"Captain, I'm Warden Kuril, and this is my ship," the turian said as he approached the captain, only pausing for a moment at the sight of Steve's armor. "Your weapons will be returned to you on the way out. You must realize this is just a standard procedure."

"How about this: I relinquish one bullet right after you tell me where you want it," Garrus offered as he reached for his rifle while Jacob and Miranda prepared to reach for their weapons as well.

"Easy everyone," Steve cautioned, and the rest of his team immediately backed off just as he looked his gaze with Kuril. "I understand that you're trying to be cautious, but given some of my past experiences in high-security prisons, I'm sure you can understand why I'd rather my team and I keep our weapons on us while we're here. No offense, but we'd rather not have to rely on your guards in case something happens."

"Are you saying you don't trust us, Captain," Kuril inquired, though his tone was a little too innocent for the question.

"Considering that the Blue Suns have tried to kill us every time we've encountered them, can you really blame us for not being all that trusting," Miranda pointed out with her arms crossed.

Kuril had to admit that the rather lovely human woman did have a strong point, as it was no secret that the Blue Suns had already had a few encounters with Captain America that resulted in such a way, but that did not stop him from having a small stare-off with Rogers for a few minutes until he finally conceded to the super soldier's wishes. "Let them proceed. Our facility is more than secure enough to handle four armed guests," Kuril told his men before he turned back to Cap's group. "We're bringing Jack out of cryo, and as soon as the funds clear, you can be on your way. If you'll follow me to Out-Processing for the pick-up, Captain…"

"Lead the way," Steve nodded in reply, and the group was soon walking through the very large and rather impressive prison facility. The first room that the _Normandy_ team saw was a long, metal hallway that was lined with glass windows on either side, through which they could see large the various, large cubes that made up the cellblocks. Aside from the long metal arms that were moving the various cells about the area, the place actually reminded Cap a little of the Negative Zone prison that Stark, Pym, and Richards had developed for supervillains known as Prison Forty-Two.

"Cellblock Two," Kuril announced to the team as if he were giving a tour, drawing Steve's attention to the turian. "As you can see, we keep tight control of the population. Each prisoner's cell is a self-contained, modular unit. I've blown a few out the airlocks as an example. The ship is made up for thirty cellblocks identical to this one, and we house thousands of criminals, all of them the worst the galaxy has to offer. We can put the whole place on lockdown at a moment's notice, so nothing goes wrong here. I believe that your home planet, Earth had developed a similar facility during your Age of Marvels, is that correct, Captain?"

"Something like this, yes, except for the fact that it was in a different dimension," Steve shrugged in admittance. "How'd you end up running this place if you don't mind my asking?"

"Not at all," Kuril replied with a bit of pride. "I was in law-enforcement on Palaven, and I got sick of seeing criminals escape out into the galaxy to carry on with their crimes. Eventually, I hit upon this idea: keep the criminals in space, and the galaxy is a safer place."

"So you do this because you think it's necessary," Miranda inquired in a disbelieving tone.

"Every day I see the worst sapient life has to offer," Kuril replied. "Governments are soft and unwilling to make the hard choices. Someone had to step up and make the galaxy safe."

"Can't really argue with that," Jacob admitted. "But maintaining a population this size can't be cheap, especially out in space."

"Well we can cut corners that governments can't, and each prisoner brings in a fee from his home world," Kuril revealed. "These individuals are violent, and their home planets pay well to keep them here."

"And what happens if the planet can't or doesn't want to pay," Steve inquired, though he had a strong feeling as to what the answer was.

"We explain that we can't maintain the prisoner without their help, so we'll be forced to release him back onto his home world at an unspecified place and time," Kuril said, proving Steve's suspicions correct.

"So it's an extortion racket," Garrus practically snarled in disgust.

"You don't have to agree with my methods, but don't question my motives," Kuril snapped at his fellow turian. "These are despicable people, and I'm keeping them locked up."

Garrus looked like he wanted to argue, but Steve managed to keep his teammate from doing anything rash by subtly shaking his head in the negative as if to say that Garrus should not do anything that may antagonize the warden before he decided to ask a question that he had been wondering about ever since he read the dossier. "Can you tell me anything about Jack?"

"Cerberus hasn't told you," Kuril asked.

"They only told me the basic information. Powerful biotic with a high kill count," Steve revealed.

Kuril's face became a bit nervous as he explained, "Jack is the meanest handful of violence and hate I've ever encountered. Dangerous, crazy, and very powerful… You'll see soon enough."

"I see," Steve nodded in understanding, but Kuril was sure that Cap did not really understand as well as the super soldier believed he did. Steve then looked back to the warden and said, "Let's continue on to Out-Processing. I'm sure you'd like to be rid of someone as dangerous as Jack is as soon as possible."

Kuril nodded in agreement and then quickened his pace to their destination as a result, just as Miranda voiced another question. "Have you had any escape attempts?"

"We're in space," Kuril scoffed. "They have nowhere to go and they know it, but still, we exercise extreme caution. These _are_ dangerous individuals, but thankfully we have many ways to control the population."

Looking out a nearby window as they were passing, the team was quick to see one of the warden's ways of controlling the population, when a guard broke up a fight between a pair of prisoners using what appeared to be a force field generator to encase the two prisoners in separate energy spheres. No one in the group so much as batted an eyelid at the sight of this, as such a method was certainly better than trying to shoot the prisoners to get them to stop what they were doing, and they simply moved on to enter the next hallway before Kuril excused himself to make sure that the funds from Cerberus had cleared, only pausing to give them directions for the rest of the trip to Out-Processing and saying that he would catch up with them later before he departed.

Once Kuril was well out of earshot, Jacob looked to his companions and remarked, "Well he seemed like a real pleasant guy. Just the type of person who's likely going to screw us over."

"Kuril's a bare-faced turian. By definition, he's untrustworthy," Garrus agreed. After several more agreements from everyone else in the team, the group continued on to Out-Processing so that they could finally pick up Jack and just get off the prison ship as soon as possible.

They only paused in their trip to Out-Processing long enough for Steve to convince one of the guards to stop letting one of his companions from mercilessly beating on a prisoner to the point where it was completely inhumane, but aside from that, the group encountered no trouble in their journey to their destination, prompting a few silent sighs of relief from Garrus and Jacob when they finally reached the waiting room just before Out-Processing. The attendant that was on duty at the time immediately directed them to where they wanted to be, and they all moved over as quickly as they could without seeming like they were in a hurry until they were just before the door. Unfortunately, the double-cross that they were suspicious of came the minute that they opened the door only to find an empty room that was clearly a cell.

 _"My apologies, Captain America, but you and your companions are more valuable as prisoners than as customers,"_ Kuril's voice said over the intercom. _"Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed."_

"I have no intention of listening to someone who's as much of a criminal as the people he's keeping locked up," Steve stated as he moved his shield from his back to his arm while his other hand slowly moved towards his pistol. His slow movement quickly turned into a flash of speed, as the captain and his team were instantly arming themselves and taking cover to combat the various Blue Suns troops that were flooding into the room, all while Kuril's voice echoed over the intercom with orders to detain Captain America and his team. A few well placed biotics from Miranda, some quick shots from Jacob and Garrus, and a shield throw later, and the team seemed to be clear of hostiles for the moment, or at least clear enough to be able to run out of the room as they formed a new plan of action.

"So do we head back to the ship and then leave to try and bust Jack out later," Jacob asked.

"No, that's too risky. They'll probably reinforce the entire prison against such an attack," Miranda denied. "If we're going to get Jack, then we need to do it now, so we'll have to head over to wherever they're holding him and retrieve him from cryo ourselves."

"Cellblock Three," Garrus said, prompting the other three members of his group to glance over to him, instantly seeing that he was busily typing away at the terminal the attendant was previously working at before the fight had started. Seeing the questioning looks that his team was giving him, Garrus soon explained, "I hacked in to see where they were holding Jack. He's in Cellblock Three."

"I didn't know you could hack," Jacob said.

"Honestly, I don't normally. My hacking abilities aren't really that impressive, so that's why I left most of such things to Tali back when I was hunting Saren with the rest of the old _Normandy_ team," Garrus shrugged in reply.

"Either way, we know where to go now, so let's not waste any more time and move it out people," Steve ordered, reloading his gun as he moved towards the indicated cellblock with the rest of the squad following just behind him.

The only problem with getting to Cellblock Three was that there were a number of Blue Suns mercs and mechs barring the way, but thankfully, the team was able to blast through them all, in more ways than one. The initial strike usually came from Captain America, as he would often charge ahead and disable whoever he could with his shield, a barrage of martial arts moves, and his pistol, occasionally, and while Steve was doing all that, Miranda was watching his back with her biotics primed and ready, only switching to her SMG when those powers needed a minute to cool down. Jacob was more than able to cover Cap's other flank with his shotgun and a few of his own biotics, and if there was any that the first three had missed, they were easily dealt with thanks to some very precise shots from Garrus, either through his sniper rifle or his assault rifle.

Thankfully, the group did not have very far to go, and they managed to reach the control room for the various cells in Cellblock Three in no time at all. After making sure that the room was secure, Steve ordered Garrus to hack into the console and release Jack from cryo. The turian sniper immediately did as requested, but a few minutes later, he had to pause his work and let a concerned expression reach his face, drawing everyone's attention to him in an instant. "What's wrong, Garrus? Can you not open it," Captain America asked.

"No, I can do it. I'm just a little concerned about what will happen after I do," Garrus replied.

"What does that mean," Jacob asked, his concern over the answer showing in his voice.

"The minute I use the control to release Jack from cryo, every door on the cellblock will spring open," Garrus informed the group. "I doubt I'll need to tell you what that will lead to afterwards."

"Can't you find a way to open the cell without doing that," Steve asked.

"Sure, if I was Tali, but this is the best I can do. If we want to get Jack out of stasis, then this may be our best option."

Captain America was not willing to accept that, and he immediately tapped his comm. to radio the _Normandy_ 's resident AI. "EDI, have you been monitoring our progress," Steve asked.

 ** _"Yes Captain Rogers. I am always monitoring the ground team's progress on a mission, as is one of my primary functions,"_** EDI replied.

"Is there anything you can do from your end to help keep us from starting a prison riot then?"

 ** _"I am afraid not, Captain Rogers. Even if I were to combine my functions with Mister Vakarian's talents, the end results would remain the same."_**

That was not news that Steve wanted to hear, so as much as he did not want to take any chances, he decided that if they wanted Jack on the team, then they would have no choice but to let Garrus do what he needed to do. "Open it. Everyone, be ready for when the cells open."

Everyone immediately nodded to the captain, and Garrus soon went to work on the console while Jacob and Miranda readied their weapons for action. A loud buzzer signified that Garrus had completed his work, and as the large metal arm that moved the various cells around the prison ship rose up to open Jack's cell, a trio of heavy mechs immediately came online and turned to face the cell, no doubt as an extra security precaution for when certain prison cells were opened for whatever reason. In the end though, nothing that anyone on the team could have done would have prepared them for what they saw coming out of the cryo cell when their new recruit finally came into view.

"That's Jack," Garrus asked in surprise.

"I was expecting a big guy that looked like someone you wouldn't want to come across in a dark alley with a few scars and several tattoos on his body or something," Jacob remarked.

"Well you certainly guessed correctly in regards to the tattoos, at least," Miranda said.

"Just not so much on everything else, including gender," Steve finished, his own voice holding a bit of disbelief in it as well.

Indeed, Jack was not a large man, but a malnourished-looking woman with a shaved head and several tattoos running all across her body. Her clothing consisted of a large pair of combat boots, baggy cargo pants, and a thin belt that just barely covered her breasts. From where he was standing, Steve figured that Jack looked to be in her early twenties at the very least, so to think that this woman could be the same, cold-blooded, dangerous biotic killer that they were here to recruit seemed to suddenly be a bit of a stretch for Steve, at least until he remembered how young Natasha Romanoff had often said she was when she first started out as a spy and an assassin. Shaking off the surprise at the fact that Jack was actually a woman, Steve prepared to lead the team down to the holding cell so they could attempt to talk with Jack, when he noticed her hand suddenly twitch, and a minute later, the woman had woken up completely.

Once she had woken up, Jack wasted no time in prying herself free from her restraints, and she then only needed a minute to catch her breath before she glowed with the usual blue energy that accompanied the use of biotic powers and lunged towards the three YMIR mechs that were moving towards her. Even with what little he had learned about the potential abilities of biotic powers, Steve was still fairly certain that charging the large mechs like that would be suicide, at least until Jack plowed right through the central mech with a single, biotic-infused punch that caused the mech to go up in flames the minute she hit it. When the smoke from the explosion had cleared enough for the team to see, Jack was long gone, along with both of the other two mechs.

"Well, she definitely seems to be as powerful a biotic as her file said she was, but she is really lacking on subtlety," Garrus commented as the team turned and raced down to where Jack had previously been.

"Among other things," Miranda muttered once they had crossed through the room Jack had previously been in and entered the room she disappeared into. From there, they continued to chase after Jack, only to find the trail of destruction she had left in her wake, further emphasizing Garrus's point on how she lacked any sense of subtlety. Before they could enter the next room, the whole ship suddenly shook under the force of an explosion.

"EDI, what just happened," Steve asked the AI.

 ** _"Jack's rampage seems to have caused multiple system failures on the_ Purgatory _. A mass prison riot is now currently in progress. Warden Kuril is doing everything he can to quell the chaos. No doubt he will try to head you off eventually,"_** EDI instantly replied.

"That's just great," Jacob moaned. "Any other good news you want to share with us?"

"How about the fact that we're about to have an abundance of Blue Suns and escaped prisoners to shoot at," Garrus asked as they entered the next room filled with just that.

"I asked for good news."

"And I gave it to you."

"Less talking and more shooting, soldiers," Steve snapped as he tossed his shield at some of the opposing forces, letting it knock out a few different prisoners and Blue Suns before it finally returned back to his arm as he leapt over the rail of the catwalk they had been on. With his shield now held securely on his right, Captain America was able to deliver a much harder blow when he came down on another enemy that he had been directly above, and he then snapped his shield arm out to the side to hit another square in the head with a hard bash from the vibranium disk before tossing the shield towards another group of Blue Suns, letting it knock them out as well while he ducked behind a pile of crates and drew his pistol. Steve then waited a moment to let a few shots wiz over his head before he finally snapped up and fired his pistol at the various enemies that was blocking their way forward, instantly taking those enemies out or injuring them enough for the rest of his team to finish them off with a single shot each.

With the room now clear of hostiles, Cap stood up from behind his cover and used the electromagnets in his armor's left arm to call his shield back to him, letting the disk snap into place on his arm the minute it had reached him. "Showoff," Garrus muttered after he found that it was the only thing he could say in reference to the carnage that Captain America had just unleashed on their enemies. "I never thought I would say that in regards to someone other than Spidey."

"Can we please not bring him up when he's not here," Miranda asked, though she would vehemently deny any accusations of her tone holding any drop of begging in it when she did ask the question.

 ** _"Captain Rogers, the warden has locked down the area behind you. You must find another exit,"_** EDI suddenly informed the team. **_"He is likely hoping to force you towards him."_**

"Copy that EDI," Steve shouted over the _Purgatory_ 's computerized announcement on the ship's increasing damage. "We'll press on and find another route back to the ship as fast as we can, even if we have to go through Kuril to do it."

 ** _"One other thing, Mister Parker has informed me that his Spider-Sense has started tingling, and is now warning him of someone approaching the ship. I believe that it is most likely Jack, or the warden's men hoping to try and take the ship and its crew hostage as a way to keep you from leaving,"_** EDI added.

"Damn it," Steve cursed to himself.

"Wait, did you just curse," Jacob asked incredulously. "Did you, Captain America, actually just curse?"

Steve just sighed in response as he moaned, "First Stark gets on me for reprimanding him for using inappropriate language, and now you're making a big deal out of the fact that I do actually curse when the situation calls for it?"

"Sorry. I just never expected that," Jacob said.

"Even I never would have thought you would use that kind of language, Rogers," Miranda admitted.

"Focus people," Steve snapped. "EDI, tell Spider-Man that we're counting on him and Kasumi to do whatever they can to keep the ship safe until we get there, but if Jack approaches, make sure that Kasumi knows that only Spider-Man is to engage her if necessary, and _only_ if necessary."

 ** _"Understood Captain."_**

A series of nods was then exchanged between the team members, and they all immediately charged forward into the fires that were ahead of them. Whether it was the prisoners that were being held on _Purgatory_ , the Blue Suns mercs, or a YMIR mech that got in their way, it did not matter, as the team was able to easily dispatch every single one of their enemies in little to no time at all, until finally, they had reached Cellblock One, where a number of prisoners were being taken down by Kuril's men, and the warden himself just as they had arrived. When Kuril noticed the team entering, he immediately opened fire on them, forcing the group to dash or duck behind Captain America and his shield until they reached a decent cover in response.

When he finally managed to reach cover, Steve started noting his surroundings and his teammates' current positions while Kuril started ranting on to him, not realizing that he was giving the super soldier adequate time to get people in place for a counter offensive against him. "You know, you're valuable, Captain America," Kuril ranted as he fired on the super soldier and his team's current positions at random. "Despite how you've only been alive again for a short time, the bounty on you has become quite considerable. I could've sold you and lived like a king, but you're too much trouble! At least I can recapture Jack."

Kuril never noticed that Steve was using the warden's need to monologue about his foiled plans to silently direct his team to where he would need them to be in a moment, starting with pointing Garrus to a perfect sniper position to hit Kuril with some well placed shots. "That's not going to happen, Kuril," Steve called out as he waved a hand signal to Jacob, hoping that he could distract the turian warden by keeping him talking. "You're a two-bit slave trader who pretends to be a man of justice, when in reality, you're no better than the criminals that you're keeping prisoner here, assuming all of the people on this ship are criminals."

That definitely got under Kuril's skin, as he shouted, "I do the hard things civil governments are unwilling to! This is for the good of the galaxy!"

"I'd ask you to forgive me for disagreeing with you, but frankly, I honestly don't care one way or the other," Steve retorted as he started giving a silent countdown from three to his team. The minute he signaled them to move, Jacob and Miranda instantly opened fire on Kuril, driving the warden right into Garrus's line of fire, and the scarred turian did not hesitate to take the shot. The minute Garrus had fired, he immediately nailed Kuril in the leg, disabling the warden long enough for Captain America to jump out from behind cover and fire a few rounds on Kuril with his pistol before tossing his shield to drive the warden back into Garrus's line of fire. Cap's shield toss did its job perfectly, as it allowed Garrus the perfect chance to literally nail Kuril right between his eyes.

"Boom! Headshot," Garrus shouted. "You all saw that, right? Because I will need someone to back me up on this when I tell Spidey about it after we get back to the ship."

Jacob and Captain America both had to chuckle a little in response to Garrus's comment, while Miranda simply rolled her eyes, but the moment was quickly brought to a halt when everyone on the team received word from EDI that Jack had reached the docking bay to the _Normandy_ and was now engaging Spider-Man. The minute they heard that, they instantly put any further celebrations on hold and raced out of the room so that they could hopefully stop the two before either of the two did anything too reckless that they would later regret.

* * *

Even though Jack was panting a little once she had reached the docking bay, there was no reason that she could see to not feel like she was unstoppable at the moment, as every single idiot that had gotten in her way was now either dead or nursing a very serious injury like a little baby, a fact that was easily enforced by the two Blue Suns that had tried to stop her and were now dead. All she had to do now was steal a ship and she was home-free, and she quickly spotted a ship that was perfect for the job. At least she thought it was perfect, until she saw the symbol that was painted on the side of it, and her feral grin of success had instantly changed to a snarl once she had, because she knew that symbol far too well.

"Cerberus," Jack spat in anger, and she quickly roared in anger as painful memories that she did not enjoy remembering started racing back to her. Thankfully, she knew the perfect cure to make those memories subside for a moment, and that was to kill every single person on that ship without any remorse or mercy. She was so caught up in her ravings and promises of death to the people on the ship that she never noticed a Blue Sun merc trying to get the drop on her until a strange, barely audible sound reached her ears and caused her to turn towards the merc.

When she did lay on eyes on him, it was just in time to see him being hauled away by a thin, yet surprisingly strong thread of some kind, until the merc was within striking range of a man in an odd, red and blue suit of armor that was perched up on one of the walls. Once the man was sure that the Blue Sun was out cold, he folded his left hand's middle and ring fingers into his palm while keeping his other three fingers extended, almost as though he were throwing out the rock-on sign and sprayed a large amount of goop around the merc that caused the Blue Sun to be completely tied up on the wall. With his target now tied up, the red and blue clad man then leapt from his perch to stand between Jack and the airlock that led to the Cerberus ship, allowing her to see a pair of gold tinted, eye slits on his helmet and a spider logo on his chest as he stood up and said, "Okay Miss, now assuming that your name's not Jack, there are two ways you can thank me for saving your life: one is that you go back to your cell peacefully or find a working shuttle, because I'm pretty sure that this ship's going down if the various explosions I heard are anything to go by, and the other is that we play one of my favorite games. It's called Sleepy Time, and the way it works is that I punch you and then you take a nap. So, what do you say?"

"How about fuck off, Cerberus freak," Jack shouted as she threw a powerful biotic blast at the _Normandy_ 's arachnid defender.

Thankfully, Spider-Man's trusted sixth sense alerted him of Jack's attack as she was charging it up, and he immediately leapt aside to avoid it completely. "Okay, is this how you thank everyone who saves you from getting shot? Because if that is the case, then I'm going to tell you right now that you won't make a lot of friends that way," Spider-Man quipped as he just managed to slip away from a few more biotic attacks. Eventually though, Jack managed to slip past Spider-Man's guard and land a powerful blow to the web-head's chest that knocked him back a few feet, but thankfully, Spider-Man's armor had managed to take the worst of the damage from her attack for him. "Okay, if you're going to be that way, then I'm going to have to take away some privileges, young lady, starting with TV and trips to the tattoo parlor."

"Just shut the fuck up and fucking die already," Jack roared as she charged Spider-Man in an attempt to hit him.

"Whoa, you kiss your mother with that mouth," Spider-Man quipped as he leaned from side to side in order to avoid the flurry of biotic punches that Jack was throwing at him. Eventually, Peter saw a chance to retaliate and raised one of his arms forward to fire a low-level repulsor blast that knocked Jack away for a moment, giving him a chance to go on the offensive, but only for a few moments. "Seriously, that has to be one of the most colorful ways that anybody has told me to shut up, and yet it still feels like the most original version of it I've heard in a long time. It's usually just, 'It's Spider-Man! Get him!', or 'Get the freak!', or 'Somebody shut that nutcase up', so I think you can understand why I'm so glad to hear something other than the various clichés I normally hear."

Jack just roared in response and threw another pair of biotic blasts at Spider-Man, the first of which the web-head avoided while the second hit him in the side and caused him to stumble. Just as the two were about to charge each other again, a fast-moving, red and white blur whooshed between them and stuck them both in the front before returning to where it had came from, prompting Spider-Man to train a repulsor on Jack while preparing to fire his web shooter on the newest arrival, while Jack just growled in response as someone shouted, "HEY! That's enough!"

Spider-Man instantly lowered the hand that was readying a web shooter to fire when he saw that the person who had intervened was Captain America, and after the super soldier had waved for the rest of his team to lower their weapons, he turned to the two combatants and said, "Stand down, Spider-Man. I'd rather let Jack join us of her own free will rather than being knocked out."

"Wait, you mean this woman really is Jack? Jack's a woman," Spider-Man asked in honest surprise before looking between the not-so-modest woman and his fellow Avenger-out-of-time. "Okay, I did not see that one coming."

"You're not the only one," Jacob remarked.

"What, you got a problem with me being a woman, freak show," Jack asked Spider-Man.

"No! No, not at all. Some of my best friends are women, actually…when they're not trying to punch me," Spider-Man replied in what was clearly a desperate attempt to keep Jack from attacking him again. "Hey, hey look! I'm not aiming my repulsor or web shooters at you anymore, just like Cap said, so that means that I'm not going to try and attack you again. Please don't attack me again?"

"Shut the hell up already," Jack snapped before she turned to face Captain America. "And you, what the hell do you want?"

"My name is Captain Steve Rogers, better known to Earth as Captain America, and I'm here to get you out of the bad situation that you're currently in the middle of," Steve replied.

"Shit, not only do you sound like a pussy, you're also crazier than I am, but then again you're working with that nutcase in the ridiculous armor, so that probably wasn't ever in doubt," Jack remarked.

"Seriously, one of these days, someone has to tell why everyone has a problem with my outfits," Spider-Man muttered.

"He's completely sane, and serious. He really is Captain America," Jacob told Jack.

"Yeah, like I'm going to believe some Cerberus bastard," Jack snarled, instantly getting the armory chief to back off a little. "I'm not going anywhere with you. You're Cerberus," Jack then snarled at the captain.

"No, he's Captain America, as has already been established, and while we're getting names out there, I'm Spider-Man, the turian with the large scar on one side of his face is Garrus, and the other two guys are Jacob and Miranda," Spider-Man quipped.

Steve had to shoot a look at Spider-Man for his joke before he addressed Jack again and said, "I'm here to ask for your help, and I can assure you that I'm not a member of Cerberus."

"And yet you showed up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere," Jack pointed out. "You think I'm stupid?"

"No, and that's why I'm sure that you can tell that this ship is going down in flames. We can get you to safety, and all we're asking for in return is your help," Steve offered.

"We could knock her out and take her," Garrus suggested. "Personally, I'd like to see her finish her little spar with Spidey just to see who would win in the end."

"Please, that freak show wasn't even making me try," Jack scoffed. At that point, Peter was not sure if she was just blustering so that she would seem tough or not, but he was very sure that he was glad that his helmet hid his face completely, because he knew that a fearful expression was now firmly planted on his face.

"Enough! We're not attacking anyone," Steve shouted. He then looked to Jack and said, "Listen, we need your help to stop a major threat to all life in the universe, though at the moment, that applies more so to human life than any other, so what's it going to take for you to join us."

Jack seemed to consider this for a moment before she finally said, "If you really want me to come with you, then make it worth my while. I bet your ship's got lots of Cerberus databases. I want to look at those files and see Cerberus has got on me. You want me on your team, let me go through those databases."

Steve let that hang for minute, making it seem like he was considering it, when in reality, he had already made his decision. "Fine," he finally nodded. "I'll give you full access."

"Rogers, you're not authorized to do that," Miranda protested.

"Oh did I upset the Cerberus cheerleader? Even fucking better," Jack drawled in excitement. She then looked back to Steve and warned, "You'd better be straight up with me."

"You have my word, and I also promise that I'll do whatever else that I can for you," Steve agreed.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Boy Scout," Jack replied. "Now why the hell are we still standing here?"

Steve nodded in agreement and ordered the team to head back to the ship, and everyone immediately fell in step behind the super soldier, some more reluctantly with others, with some making sure that they were a reasonable distance from Jack as they did, Spider-Man more so than others. Looking on at the group from any perspective, be it outside or otherwise, one would instantly be able to tell you that things were about to get a lot more interesting on the _Normandy_.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so that happened. You guys all saw what I did there at the end, right? No? Seriously, you did see how I recreated that scene from The Avengers when Thor and Iron Man face-off only to get interrupted by Cap, right? I just replaced Iron Man and Thor with Spider-Man and Jack. It seemed appropriate._**

 ** _Also, that little mention of Spider-Man testing out a supervillain holding facility, that's a little reference to that episode from Season 2 of The Spectacular Spider-Man. I'm not sure if that happened in the comics or not, but I'm saying it did here in this continuity. Speaking of Spidey, to all you guys who love the pairing, I hope you caught the fact that I referenced the whole Spider-Man&Ms. Marvel pairing, and yes, Carol Danvers is currently Captain Marvel, yes, she's part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and yes, she is still around along with said group. That will come into play later on down the line, just so you all know._**

 ** _Well, that's really all I can say on what happened this time around, aside from the fact that it's pretty clear that Jack's not going to be very likely to be BFFs with Spider-Man, so hope you're all glad to see that little trend of Spidey instantly becoming pals or something with every girl in this story other than Miranda is finally broken, but I will say that next time will be the chapter where I reveal why I keep saying that Hulk_ technically _isn't in this story. You'll figure it out soon enough, I'm sure. Until then, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _After getting Jack acclimated to her new surroundings, Steve takes a moment to check in with Miranda to make sure that the Cerberus loyalist isn't too upset about how they ended up getting Jack to agree to join up with them. In doing so, the super soldier learns a little more about his XO and her past, making him feel that he's gotten a little closer to her as a result, but their next recruitment mission will depend on much more than a strong sense of trust between teammates. The hunt for the krogan warlord, Okeer is on, but what will the team find on the world he has currently set up shop on, and just what is the warlord working on that is so important and so dangerous? Find out next time._**

 ** _Garrus: [from the other side of the closed door] Hey lyokoMARVEL, I think I managed to calm Hulk down._**

 ** _AN: Oh hey that's great! [gets up and goes back into the room only to freeze when he sees a still angry Hulk looking perfectly fine] Wait a minute, where's Garrus?_**

 ** _Hulk: [points up to where Garrus is hanging limply from the ceiling above them]_**

 ** _AN: Damn it, Garrus! You folded under pressure?!_**

 ** _Garrus: Sorry. I was weak, and up against a Hulk._**

 ** _AN: Oh boy. [looks at Hulk nervously until Captain America swoops down in front of him]_**

 ** _Captain America: Stand down, Avenger. That's an order._**

 ** _Hulk: HULK SMASH LYOKOMARVELANIME!_**

 ** _Captain America: I SAID STAND DOWN SOLDIER!_**

 ** _Hulk: [immediately calms down and backs off] Okay, sorry._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Okay, I'm here and fully suited up for...wait, it's already over? Aw man. I didn't get to do anything here or in the story._**

 ** _AN: You fought Jack._**

 ** _Spider-Man: So what's your point?_**

 ** _AN: Anyway..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	7. Dossier: The Warlord

_**AN: Hey everybody, so who's up for another chapter in the adventures of Captain America**_ ** _in the Mass Effect universe as he commands the_ Normandy _?!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I thought so, and look at this, it's the chapter where you all see why the Hulk isn't "technically" in this story. If you want more information, then start reading the chapter now, otherwise, here's the disclai..._**

 ** _Jack: Hey! Isn't there some shit that you're fucking forgetting about?_**

 ** _AN: Okay first off...[pulls out a swear jar] deposit a dollar lady._**

 ** _Jack: [grumbles incoherently as she deposits said amount]_**

 ** _AN: Second, what are you talking about?  
_**

 ** _Jack: How about answering reviews?_**

 ** _EDI: I believe that lyokoMARVELanime is not taking that course of action because there are not many reviews to answer this time._**

 ** _AN: That is...one thing, but part of it is also because I...actually haven't been able to formulate satisfactory answers to some reviews at this current time._**

 ** _Miranda: Basically, you just don't know what to say, or you don't want to waste everyone's time and just let them get to the chapter._**

 ** _AN:...Shut up. Look, I do want to say, to everyone who reviewed, thanks for your reviews, glad you liked the story, and hope you enjoy continue to enjoy as the story progresses. I may come back and address some things later on, or I might even do so in the ending author's note, but for now, I won't keep you waiting on the answer you've all been waiting for, so plot a course to the chapter!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Dossier: The Warlord**

Needless to say, things were rather tense on the _Normandy_ after the team had returned with Jack. As Joker had so eloquently put it, they could only hold so much crazy, and clearly having a psychotic biotic like Jack on board was really pushing that limit for everyone. Every time someone saw Jack, even in passing, they tended to put as much distance as they could between her and themselves or just prayed that she would not notice them, especially given how she would glare at anyone who was wearing a Cerberus uniform, but the only one who was more wary of Jack than anyone else would had to have been Spider-Man. The web-head was still not sure if the former convict of _Purgatory_ was just blustering or not when she said she was not really trying in their spar outside the ship, and he was not willing to tempt fate and let her have a chance to really cut loose on him if that was the case. To be honest, Peter was actually a bit relieved that Jack probably wanted to kill him as opposed to…well, what Aria had done with him, but he was not going to tempt the old Parker Luck on that for long, given his history with crazy women.

The only one that everyone tended to avoid more than Jack at the moment though was actually Miranda, as she had been silently seething ever since the team had returned to the ship and she had been forced to give Jack access to the files in Cerberus' databases. It was not really as obvious if you were to just go by the neutral expression Miranda had on her face, but it was plainly obvious with the way she was carrying herself as though she were hoping to get something over with as quickly as possible, along with the dangerously icy aura that she was giving off whenever she entered a room, especially when Steve was in said room. True, she typically gave off a rather cold aura in general, but that was more of a cold, calculating vibe, and this was more of an icy, silent furry type of feeling than anything else. Given this, Steve knew he would have to talk with Miranda about what had happened sooner or later, but there were still other things he wanted to deal with first.

One of those things was seeing how Jack was settling in, and that was why Steve was now making his way to one of the lowest parts of the ship; the sub-deck underneath engineering to be exact, which had now been re-branded as "the Forbidden Zone" by the crew after Jack had taken the area up as her personal quarters. Part of the reason was because he genuinely wanted to see how Jack was doing and because he wanted to get to know the person behind the dossier that he had been sent. There had to be a reason as to why Jack hated Cerberus so much, because that kind of hate and anger could never come about without good reason, a fact that held true even for someone like the Hulk, and Steve wanted to find out what that reason was. Another part of the reason Steve wanted to go down there though, was that Miranda had sent Peter down with the datapads of Cerberus files that she had requested earlier, and the arachnid hero had not come back up yet, and knowing Peter, that could likely have meant bad news.

When he got close to the area where Jack was now bunking, Steve did not hear anything at first, and he was beginning to wonder if that was a good or bad sign. A part of him quickly gave a silent sigh of relief when he heard a familiar yelp of surprise cry out after Jack's voice had shouted, "Just get the shit out of my fucking space before I smear the walls with you, bug freak!"

Steve immediately picked up his pace and hurried down to the sub-deck just in time to see Spider-Man, clad in his old costume, flipping away from a biotic blast that a very pissed off Jack had thrown at him, and from the way that the former convict was glowing, it was clear that she was about to ready another one. Seeing this was all the prompting that Steve needed to rush between the two as he shouted, "Haven't you two gotten it out of your systems yet? What's going on now?"

"Cap, Jack's trying to kill me for attempting to make conversation," Spider-Man replied in a tone that a small child would use when they were telling one someone.

"And who said I had shit to say to you," Jack seethed in retort, but she backed off a little when Steve sent her a look that clearly told her to settle down if she did not want to face any consequences later.

After seeing Jack was cooling off a little, Steve then looked to Peter and asked, "Would that be the normal attempt at conversation, or the Spider-Man variety?"

"Wait, there's actually a difference," Spider-Man asked in surprised confusion. When he saw the look that Steve was now sending him, Peter quickly raised his hands in surrender and admitted, "Okay, so I might've told one or two jokes in an attempt to break the ice, but I really was just trying to get to know the crazy woman you brought back…while also making sure she won't try to kill me again."

Steve nodded in understanding, knowing that Peter was always honest in regards to that kind of thing, and then told the wall-crawler to go and help Mordin for a little bit with the Collector countermeasures that the salarin professor had been working on. Peter quickly agreed and got out of there as fast as he could before Jack decided that she was not going to listen to the captain any longer, using his web shooters to help with said exit, and that just left Steve and Jack in the room. Once he was sure that Peter was gone, Steve turned to Jack so that he could say something, but the bald woman beat him to the punch and said, "I didn't need your help getting rid of him."

"Considering that our ideas of getting rid of him likely differ in a big way, I can't help but think that you might have," Steve rebuked.

"I wasn't actually going to kill him. I just wanted to scare him enough to know that he should keep his shit away from me," Jack tried to assure him, but Steve was not really sure how much of that he was willing to believe. After taking a minute to shake it off, Steve turned his attention back to Jack as she sat down on the bunk that had been set up for her and grabbed one of the datapads that Spider-Man had delivered. When she realized that Steve was still there, Jack quickly turned her attention back to him and asked, "There a reason you're still in my fucking space, Boy Scout?"

"Just doing my job as ship's captain when it comes to new additions to the crew, Jack," Steve replied. "Wanted to make sure you were settling in alright, and like Peter, I was kind of curious to know about you as a person. I just wasn't going to ask in the same way that he probably had."

"What, you want to talk about feelings and shit, because I don't do that kind of thing," Jack rebuked. She then seemed to become a little more subdued before she added, "Besides, I'm still finding out about me, and part of that is somewhere in these files…Thanks for letting me look at them, by the way."

"Not a problem," Steve waved off.

"I think the Cerberus cheerleader would disagree with you on that, seeing as she sent that bug-twit down here to deliver them," Jack muttered.

"Well to be fair, Miranda's extremely loyal to the organization, and she has a hard time dealing with Spidey, like a lot of people. Trust me, you'll get used to him after a while, and you're going to have to seeing as you're now on a team with him."

"How long does it usually take to get used to him," Jack asked, her voice almost pleading for an answer.

Steve was not sure what to say in response to that, so he found that he could not help but smile and say, "You'll know when it happens, or as an old friend of mine would likely say, I'll letcha know after I've gotten used to him." Jack just scowled and then cursed under her breath at that response, but Steve could have sworn that the corners of the bald woman's mouth had turned up just a touch when she did. Seeing that made Steve think that he might have an opening in the conversation to learn a little more about Jack, and he quickly asked, "What exactly is in those files you're looking at?"

This time, Jack did smile a little, but it was not a pleasant one in the least, and she replied, "Your friends at Cerberus are into some nasty things. I'm gonna find something I can use; I just know it."

"I'm not exactly friends with Cerberus, even if I am captain of one of their ships. I'm just letting them help me stop a serious threat to the universe," Steve corrected.

"Same difference," Jack shrugged.

Steve could see that he was not going to get anywhere in that regard, so he simply decided to get back to the main topic and asked, "So what if the answers you're looking for aren't what you expect?"

"I'm not looking for answers," Jack immediately clarified. "I'm looking for names, dates, and places. When I find what I'm looking for, I'm going to go hunting, and anyone who's screwed with me pays. Their associates pay, their friends pay, and the galaxy's going to be a lot emptier when I'm done."

"I'm assuming that everyone on that list is likely to be with Cerberus," Steve guessed. When Jack said nothing in reply, he took that to mean he was right, and he immediately asked, "Care to explain what kind of history you have with Cerberus? It's pretty obvious that you hold no love for them."

"Gee, what was your first clue, Boy Scout," Jack drawled in reply as she stood up and moved over to a shadowed area of the sub-deck. "They abducted me when I was barely even four, and then raised me in one of their facilities. I escaped when I was still just a kid, I've been on the run ever since, and they've been chasing me ever since, but soon, I'm going to chase them."

"Why did they take you," Steve asked.

"I don't know, and I don't give a shit as to why, either," Jack shrugged. "All I know is that it had something to do with my biotic potential or some other fucked up reason, and they practically stole my childhood to tap into it. After I escaped, they made sure I couldn't live a normal life even if I wanted to, but once I find what I want, I'm going to show them just what kind of monster they created."

"You certainly seem to have this on your mind quite a bit," Steve observed.

"I go to sleep with this, I wake up with it, and everyone I kill, I pretend it's the ones that did this to me," Jack admitted with just the smallest touch of remorse in her voice that almost everyone else would miss if they were not talking with her one-on-one and were not as well-trained and skilled as Steve Rogers was. Jack then turned back to Steve with a small feral grin on her face as she said, "You know, this ship is a powerhouse. You could go pirate, live like a king, and if that bug-freak is as loyal to you as he seems to be, no one would be willing to mess with you, especially if you had my help."

"As tempting as that is, we have more important things to worry about, the main one being stopping the Collectors," Steve reminded Jack, and no one could miss the sarcasm his voice carried at the beginning of his sentence. "Besides, I've always fought for freedom and what's right, and Spider-Man lives by the motto that with great power, there must always come great responsibility. Does that really sound like a couple of guys who could get into piracy to you?"

"Maybe not," Jack admitted with a shrug. "But what do you guys even have to fight for besides the cause? Plus, when this is done, we'll all either be dead or out here with this ship. Think about it, Boy Scout. Lots of creds, freedom to go wherever you want, and all the mayhem and fighting I could want."

"Like I said, I'm not getting involved in piracy," Steve insisted once again. "Just what is it about killing that seems to fascinate you as much as smashing something fascinates a Hulk?"

Jack just shrugged again before she reasoned, "I figured every time someone dies and it's not me, my chances of survival go up. Simple."

"Is that why you insist on living down here," Steve asked.

"Part of the reason," Jack admitted. "This place is dark, quiet, and hard to find. That spells safety to me."

"Fair enough," Steve shrugged. "I'll just let you get back to your reading then, but just one more thing."

"What," Jack asked.

"Are you only going to wear that when it comes to shirts," Steve asked as he indicated the belt that barely hid her breasts.

Jack just quirked an eyebrow at Steve before she asked, "What, you never seen a pair of tits before?"

"That's not the point, Jack," Steve rebuked. "I'd just prefer that my team has some semblance of modesty, and that's not just pushing past that line, its barreling over it."

"Well fuck you and that idea. I've been able to work with this look for this long, and I'm not changing it," Jack retorted.

"Alright," Steve replied, and Jack had to smile a little at the thought that she had won, but her smile quickly vanished when she heard the rest of Steve's sentence. "I didn't want to have to do this."

"Do what," Jack asked, and the next thing she knew, her vision was filled with a familiar looking red and black pattern when something suddenly landed on her head. Pulling the object off allowed Jack to see that Steve had thrown a shirt to her, and it was not just any shirt. The article of clothing in question was actually one of the shirts that Peter had for the few spares of his original costume. "What the hell is this?!"

Steve could not help but smirk a little as he said, "Oh that, is one of Spider-Man's spare uniform shirts, and it's also part of my next orders for you. Either you find something else to wear to improve your modesty, or you have to wear that at all times. I mean around the ship, while on shore leave, on mission, all times."

"You have got to be shitting me," Jack protested in disgust, hoping that he was not serious about making her wear the hideous, red and blue, web-patterned garment. Not only was the thing not eye-catching in her opinion, it made her look like some obsessed fan-girl of the irritating web-freak.

"I'm perfectly serious, Jack," Steve assured her as he turned to make his exit. "You have your orders, so I suggest that you make a decision on which you would prefer. That shirt from one of Spider-Man's spare uniforms, or something of your choosing. Your choice."

The string of curses that Jack threw out at Steve after he had said that were almost completely muffled by the door to the hallway leading to the elevator, and Steve could not help but smile a little, knowing that he had succeeded in what he had hoped to do with that last bit, and that smile seemed to grow a little when he saw the Spider-Man himself standing by the elevator with his arms crossed. He knew that Spider-Man was likely glaring at him a little through those very expressive eye-slits of his original costume, and that was only enforced when he got to the elevator and Peter asked, "Did I do or say something recently that made you decide that you hate me?"

"What do you mean, Spidey," Steve asked, knowing that Peter would likely be paranoid enough to think that Jack could probably still hear them. While Peter Parker and everyone he knew from his civilian life was no longer around, the arachnid-themed hero was still very cautious about revealing his secret-identity to just anyone, and Jack was certainly not someone he was willing to reveal that to just yet.

"Let's see," Peter replied as he adopted a mock-thinking pose. "There was that whole thing where you left me with Aria, the fact that you seemed to enjoy how Kasumi was 'making me squirm' when we first met her, and now using one of the spares I have of my old, classic suit as part of an ultimatum to get the new resident psycho to wear a shirt. Gee Cap, why do you think I would assume that?"

"Sorry Peter, but I couldn't really think of a better way to convince Jack to show a little more modesty," Steve apologized. "And I have apologized for those other ones."

"Yeah, I know; I'm just busting your chops," Peter admitted with a chuckle as he and Steve entered the elevator and hit the controls for the crew deck and the CIC. "So, all joking aside, please tell me that you're now going to go and talk to our favorite ice queen of an XO now that you've dealt with one of the crazy women on this ship."

"Talking to Miranda is on my to-do list," Steve reassured Peter. "And while I'm doing that, could you tell Joker to set a course for Korlus on your way to Mordin's lab? That's where we're supposed to get our next recruit, and I'll expect you and Kasumi to be ready for that mission since you'll both be going on it with us this time."

"As long as it's not another wanted murderer, I don't think that'll be a problem," Peter replied. After a minute of silence, Peter found he had to ask, "It's not another wanted murder, is it?"

"Not that I'm aware of. This time, we're going after a krogan warlord," Steve revealed just as the elevator stopped at the crew deck.

Peter only stared after his fellow Avenger-out-of-time in complete shock, even after the elevator doors closed, and for once, he found himself glad that the elevator was so slow, because he was not sure he would have been able to come out of his stupor when it finally reached the CIC. Just before the elevator doors had opened up to the second deck of the ship, Peter found he had to groan out four simple words. "We are gonna die."

* * *

Miranda was still seething about how Steve had just circumvented her and the Illusive Man when he had made that deal about Jack, as evidenced by how heatedly she was typing up her latest report to the leader of Cerberus. While she would not deny that Steve's solution was preferable to forcing Jack to come with them that did not mean she was okay with Steve just giving the woman access to Cerberus databases like it was a public library. Plus, Jack herself was just so infuriating with her blatant disregard for authority and the ship's chain of command. Her anger towards the former convict had nothing to do with how Jack had now officially nicknamed her the Cerberus Cheerleader.

In all honesty, Miranda thought that she would explode at the next person who was stupid enough to interrupt her while she was working here in her office, but when that person did come, Miranda found herself calming the urge as much as she could, which was very difficult seeing as the person who did enter her office was also one of the people she was currently upset with. "I've already had Spider-Man deliver the files that Jack had requested, Rogers, so there's no need for you to check up on that," Miranda shortly informed the super soldier before he could even say a word.

"I know about that, Miranda, I actually just came up from talking with Jack, right after I had to prevent her from killing Spider-Man," Steve replied, completely non-pulsed, almost as though the icy tone Miranda spoke with had not even registered for him. "I'm actually here to talk with you and see how you're holding up at the moment."

That caught Miranda's attention, as she was sure that she had made it quite clear how she was doing right now. Still, she decided to humor Steve and said, "Oh I'm doing just as well as I normally would when someone decides to turn Cerberus classified files into library books that anyone can just check out whenever they want."

"Miranda," Steve lightly reprimanded. "I'm serious here. If you don't have time to talk now, I can always come back later."

For some reason, Miranda started mentally berating herself for how short and curt she was being towards Steve, as she had been able to tell easily enough that he meant it when he said he wanted to check in on her, but she was still not willing to let him see that she was letting him to get to her that easily. "I know that you're serious, Rogers, but I still have a job to do as the Illusive Man's operative and as your XO. Even if that wasn't the case, I don't have patience for incompetence, or recklessness, or heroes. That's why I intend for this mission to achieve success because of this crew or in spite of it. You might want to remember that the next time you go around making promises like the one you made to Jack back on _Purgatory_."

"Fine," Steve nodded in a curt tone of his own. "But just so you know, I don't have time for people who can't follow my orders just because they disagree with me and the values I hold. I made what I believed to be the right call, and that's what allowed us to get Jack on board with us instead of giving her more reason to kill us. You may not have the patience for heroes, but in case you hadn't noticed, you're obviously going to be working with a few, so I suggest you learn to live with that. Is that all?"

Miranda was actually a bit surprised that Steve had taken such a serious tone with her. He had basically told her flat out that he had just as little patience for the attitude she had been displaying since they met, and she honestly could not blame him. She had been rather cold towards him and a few other people on the ship quite a few times since they had met, so it would only be natural that Steve was starting to lose patience with her in that regard. Miranda knew that if Cerberus wanted Captain America to stay with them, then she could not afford to be the one who gave him a reason to cast them aside, so she figured that it was time to at least attempt a change in tactics when it came to talking with him and said, "Actually, there is something I wanted to talk with you about. Just let me finish up this operation report."

"Is there something wrong," Steve asked as his XO did just as she said she would.

"No, it's nothing like that. I just wanted to say that I actually am impressed with how you've handled things so far, despite this recent little bump in our relationship," Miranda quickly reassured Steve, and she was surprised to find that she had meant what she said. "As far as Cerberus operations go, this is actually one of the best that I've been a part of."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, I just hope you keep in mind that this is my operation and not a Cerberus one," Steve gently reminded the Cerberus loyalist.

"Maybe in your opinion, but in reality, this is something that wouldn't be possible without the Illusive Man backing us up. You and I…all of us really are here because he wants it that way. Cerberus gave you another chance at life, Captain, so would it really hurt for you to do the same for us, despite what you've heard about us so far," Miranda easily deflected.

Steve had to admit that Miranda did have a point in what she said, but that did not mean he was willing to trust Cerberus so easily. A fact that he intended to make quite clear. "I've been given quite a few additional chances at life in the past, Miranda; this is just the latest one on the list. As far as giving Cerberus a chance goes though, I am actually keeping an open mind about it, but I'm having a hard time doing so considering all the bad things I've heard about them so far, and not just from the Council either. Despite all that though, it seems that you don't have a problem with giving a great deal of loyalty to Cerberus."

"Well of course I do," Miranda admitted with pride.

"Care to explain why you are so loyal, or even how you got involved with them," Steve asked.

That was not something Miranda was expecting to be asked, and as a result, she found that she had to inquire, "Why the sudden interest?"

"I wouldn't really say that it was all that sudden," Steve admitted. "I just found myself remembering that in all the time that I had talked with you, I never really asked what lead you to join the organization, and I prefer to know the reasons for why members of my team are where they are at the moment."

"Fair enough…and I suppose you've earnt the right to know by now," Miranda admitted before she waved a hand to the open chair opposite of her position at her desk, clearly indicating that she was alright with Steve taking a seat if he wanted to. Steve did so with a nod of thanks, but as he was sitting down, he could not help but notice how Miranda's face had become a little more somber before she started speaking again. "Do you remember when I told you I was genetically altered," Miranda started out. When Steve nodded in reply, a full frown had found its way to Miranda's face as she revealed, "Well, that wasn't my choice. My father…created me."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that," Steve informed Miranda, because last he checked, every child was technically created by both parents. "Are you saying that you were created artificially, like some type of clone or something?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a clone, but yes, he did create me through artificial means," Miranda admitted.

"No mother to speak of at all?"

"No," Miranda replied. "Most of my genetic material is based on my father's tissue. His Y chromosome was altered with an amalgam of traits from various different sources." At that point, Miranda could not help but sigh as she went on to add, "How arrogant can you be? The man is completely ego-maniacal, and that was just another reason why I had to get away from him."

"I can't imagine much of what he did was legal," Steve commented.

"Probably not, but that didn't stop him," Miranda stated, sadly. "My father's a very influential and wealthy business man, and extremely controlling. He didn't want a daughter, he wanted a dynasty. I ran away as soon as I was old and brave enough, and I went to Cerberus because I knew they could protect me."

"I can't imagine that you and your father parted on good terms," Steve told her as a way to voice his thoughts.

"The fact that shots were fired and a bullet went into his shoulder would agree with you on that," Miranda confirmed in a rueful term.

"And that just makes me even more confused," Steve revealed. Seeing Miranda quirk an eyebrow at him gave him reason to explain, "From what I've seen, you're clearly capable of defending yourself, so I find it a little strange that you would need Cerberus to help you escape from your father."

"I suppose from your perspective that would seem odd, but it wasn't as simple as just leaving," Miranda disputed almost immediately. "My father had invested a great deal in his dynasty, and when I left, I knew he would continue to pursue his…investments."

"And yet it doesn't seem like Cerberus has a problem with using you for your abilities," Steve noted.

"Of course not. Cerberus fully approves of anything that advances the cause of humanity, but unlike my father and his own selfish reasons, Cerberus and the Illusive Man believe in a greater good. They see the bigger picture," Miranda clarified, and from the way she spoke it was hard to miss the fact that she seemed not only proud, but also rather content with the fact that she was using her abilities to help Cerberus. Miranda then gave a humorless chuckle as she went on to add, "It's ironic, actually. My father believed deeply in a human-positive agenda, and he donated generously to Cerberus before I joined them."

"I'm guessing that's how you learned about the group when you decided to run away from him," Steve ventured.

"You'd guess correctly in that regard," Miranda confirmed. "And I'm glad I did, because I feel like I have a real purpose here, as opposed to the one I served while with my father."

Steve had to shake his head in disbelief before he asked, "Is that really how you see yourself? As nothing more than just a tool to be used by someone else, be it Cerberus or your father?"

"Maybe," Miranda nodded, though it was clear that she did not take as much joy in the fact as she was trying to seem like she did. "I like to know where I fit in the world, Rogers. It helps me find meaning in how I was created."

"Miranda, you don't need something like that to give your life meaning," Steve immediately argued. "You just need to be who you are simply for your own sake."

"That's easy for you to say," Miranda quickly brushed off.

"What do you mean by that," Steve asked.

"We've both been engineered for greatness, Rogers, but the difference is that you were great before anyone made any alterations to you…and I'm only great because of it," Miranda said, and this time, she made no attempt to hide the tone of sadness in her voice as she did say as such.

"The only things that truly make a person great is their spirit, personality, and their strength of character, and that goes for everyone," Steve gently assured the genetically altered woman.

"That's kind of you to say, Rogers…but I'm not sure that I really believe you," Miranda admitted.

At that point, Steve figured that he needed to do a little more to get Miranda out of the mentality she was clearly in, and he did not hesitate to start right away. "You said you spent a lot of time looking into my history, but I'm guessing you don't have as good a memory on some of the things you read."

Now it was Miranda's turn to be confused, and she did not hesitate to make it clear either. "What do you mean by that," she quickly asked.

"Did you ever see any of the pictures or other information of what I was like before I was first injected with Doctor Erskine's serum," Steve asked. When Miranda simply shook her head in negative reply, Steve went on to say, "Before the serum, I was just a sickly, twenty pound asthmatic who had failed to enlist in his country's army five times when men were laying down their lives in World War II, and yet I still wanted to enlist because I felt I had no right to do any less than them and because I just didn't like bullies, no matter where they were from."

"If this is your way of saying that you only became great because of the super soldier serum, I'm afraid I'm going to have a hard time believing that," Miranda interrupted. "I've read all of Erskine's notes on the serum, so I know that it doesn't just bring about physical changes, but it also strengthens a person's character as well. Meaning all the good things about them become great, and all the bad things become much worse."

"That's exactly the point," Steve reasserted. "Like you said, the serum makes bad become worse, and it makes _good_ become _great_. Before the serum, the only great thing about me was that I was just a good man, and Erskine was one of the few people who could see that. I was already a good person, but I didn't become a truly great person until after I became Captain America. Now, I'm able to fit in the world by just being who I am and not just another soldier."

Miranda was speechless at this point. She had honestly not thought of it like that, and yet she suddenly found herself being able to relate to Steve a little more easily now. He honestly seemed to believe that he was not great until after he had been given the super soldier serum that had turned him into Earth's first true super soldier, and that just made Miranda feel as though she could relate to him a little more easily than she had originally thought. Upon reaching this realization, and after finally remembering how to use her voice again, Miranda found she could only smile and say, "Thank you for that, Rogers. I appreciate it."

Steve just nodded in return and then stood up to leave, but before he did, he found himself pausing at the door until he finally turned back and asked one final question. "Why do you always refer to me like that?"

"Like what," Miranda asked.

"You always call me Rogers or Captain, while the rest of the crew other than Spider-Man are willing to not stand on ceremony as much and at least call me Cap, so I'm just wondering why that is," Steve clarified.

Miranda wanted to say that it was because she was not looking for any friends while on this mission since she knew how unlikely it was they were coming back alive, but after that little heart-to-heart she had just shared with the man before her, she found that she could not say that, because a part of her felt that it was not the case here for some reason she could not comprehend. After a minute of silence, she finally answered, "I'm just…following a set regulations. I've never really bothered trying to get close to any superiors I've had in an operation before, if I even had one at all, so I just went with whatever mannerisms I'm used to."

Steve nodded in understanding, knowing exactly what Miranda meant by that, and he then went on to say, "Well from now on, just feel free to call me Steve if you want. You don't have to stand on ceremony with me."

"I won't make any promises that I will take you up on that offer, but I will consider it, so thanks for saying I could do so…Cap," Miranda finally said.

Steve nodded in reply and then finally left the XO's office so that he could go up to the captain's quarters and prepare for the upcoming mission. After he had left, Miranda quickly returned to the reports she was writing, and when she did, she found herself going back and changing the wording on a few things she had only written out of anger from her previous problem with Steve, showing with both that and the small smile that was practically etched into her face the entire time, that she was now over whatever problems she had previously with her current commanding officer. Some would think that would be a little strange for Miranda Lawson, but others would just say that it was mostly due to the effect that Captain America had on people after he talked with them. If someone asked Miranda herself, she would just say that it was nothing to get excited about, because she was only doing her job with a clear state of mind.

* * *

"We are going to die," Spider-Man moaned once again for the umpteenth time since the team had boarded the shuttle after arriving in the Imir System and departed the _Normandy_ for the second planet of said system. For most people, this would probably be a nice departure from his usual incessant joking, but given how often he had been moaning and groaning the same thing over and over again since they had arrived, they were all starting to wish that he would go back to making the random jokes and quips. "We are gonna die. We are gonna die. We are gonna freaking die, you mother-hubbards!"

"Seriously, is he really that much of a pussy that he can't even curse right," Jack asked in slight disbelief.

"Trust me, if you had been raised by his aunt, you would have a hard time actually cursing as well," Captain America stated from where he was standing at the front of the Kodiak shuttle.

"Okay, Cap I understand, but how can you guys just ignore the fact that we're gonna freaking die," Spider-Man exclaimed once again.

"Do you really need a reminder as to who you're working with at the moment, Kumo," Kasumi asked in slight, yet playful disbelief. "Besides, you've fought plenty of guys who would've killed you in the past."

"Yeah, and none of them were krogan warlords," Spider-Man argued.

"I'm still not seeing the problem. I've seen you toss around full grown krogan like they were nothing, so why should this be any different," Garrus pointed out.

"Because those krogans were mindless mercenaries and this guy is a freaking warlord," Spider-Man reminded his former vigilante partner.

"Aside from that, what else do we know about Okeer anyway," Steve inquired as he checked over his pistol and assault rifle.

"All we really know is that it's believed that he's had contact with the Collectors, so he likely has some valuable information we can use, and at the moment he's being held in the base of a Blue Suns cell. Whether or not he's here willingly is unclear though, so we should likely expect any kind of resistance," Miranda informed the team members that were going to be taking part in this mission. "I'd recommend we put Spider-Man out in front after we land since his Spider-Sense would give us something of an early warning if we encounter any hostiles early on."

"You're just saying that because you're hoping one of them will get lucky and actually be able to shoot me," Spider-Man quipped in reply.

"If that is the case, then that would be the first thing I would agree with her on," Jack admitted with no shame what-so-ever, getting an expression that was somewhere between a scowl and a small smirk from Miranda after she had said that for obvious reasons. It was actually at that point that Steve finally took the chance to glance over at Jack, and when he did, he gained a small hidden smile that only Spider-Man had been able to catch because he saw that Jack had now replaced the belts she wore over her upper body with a sleeveless, black vest. It may have left her arms and stomach bare, but it was a much better improvement over what she had been wearing before in Steve's opinion.

"You know, I think I'm starting to see why you consider your luck with women a bad thing, Spidey," Garrus admitted. "One minute they're either all over you or undressing you with their eyes like Aria had been ever since you first met her, and then another one comes along that can't stand you to the point that they want you dead."

"I know, right," Spider-Man exclaimed. "I swear, I feel like I should be getting some kind of secret message or something from all of that, but I can never figure out what it is."

"Spider-Man's luck in regards to his social life aside, it is a good plan," Captain America cut in before any more banter could ensue. "But I'll want Jack and Miranda right behind him and ready to throw up a biotic shield for all of us at a moment's notice. Garrus and Kasumi, you'll be at the rear to keep an eye on everything around us. Be ready to react in each of your respective best fields the minute you notice anything that seems off, meaning Garrus will need to be ready to fire off a few sniper rounds while Kasumi cloaks and moves to a tactically sound or preferred vantage point. I'll be in the center of our formation so that I'm ready to react to just as much in the easiest way possible for me. Any questions?"

When he received no answer in reply, Captain America took that to mean that everyone was ready, and it was not a moment too soon, as the Kodiak just landed on Korlus's surface, and everyone was quickly bringing out their respective, preferred weapons as they jumped off the shuttle and onto the ground. Looking around, Steve could see why some of the files he had read in regards to this planet had often referenced this world as either a garbage scowl with a climate or as the starcraft cemetery. The entire, immediate area was composed of massive pieces of scrap metal and the remains of destroyed ships that had clearly been sectioned off and then repurposed into crude buildings and structures of various designs and purposes that were yet unknown to him, basically giving it the feel of the kind of place that Spider-Man and various other street-level heroes would describe as the ideal place for certain varieties of scum or homeless people to take up residence in for reasons only they could have known. He was quickly stirred from his silent observations of the planet when a woman's voice suddenly rang out over what everyone could only assume was a loudspeaker.

 _"There is only one measure of success: kill or be killed,"_ the woman on the loud speaker shouted out, immediately drawing disgusted looks from everyone on the team.

"Well how do you like that: millions of light-years across the galaxy, and we've somehow found an evil, female version of Frank Castle," Spider-Man quipped.

"Who the hell is Frank Castle," Jack asked in honest confusion.

"You really didn't have a lot of time to study Earth history, did you," Spider-Man inquired in fully honesty.

"Would you have been able to if you were always on the run or spending time locked up in a goddamn prison?"

"Frank Castle is the Age of Marvels vigilante known as the Punisher," Captain America interrupted before Jack started thinking of trying to kill Spider-Man again. "Although, there's a reason why he was never really considered as more than a vigilante."

"Personally, I'd never do it anyway. He tried to shoot me," Spider-Man quipped.

"And that's different from just about everyone else how," Miranda asked.

"Because he did it with a bunch of things that make stuff blow up, like military-style weapons, and he tried to get at me by firing a rocket launcher at a helicopter I was hanging onto the bottom of."

"Sounds like my kind of guy," Jack grinned for a minute before her face turned to a scowl. "The bitch on the loudspeakers though, I already want to kill her."

"Stay focused, people. We've still got a krogan warlord to find," Steve reminded everyone, and with that said, he quickly motioned for everyone to move forward after falling into the formation that they had discussed on the shuttle. They had barely gone more than a few feet before the woman on the loudspeaker spoke up again.

 _"Being hired is merely the beginning! You must earn your place in the mighty army we are building!"_

"She's gonna be doing that the whole time we're here, isn't she," Garrus inquired with an eye roll.

"One thing you have to learn about a lot of bad guys, Garrus, is that the only thing they love more than being able to kill heroes, is hearing the sound of their own voice," Spider-Man easily replied in a way that sounded like he was giving sagely advice. "It is that very thing that led to the start of the dreaded villain monologues."

Cap could not help but shiver a little along with Spider-Man when the web-head mentioned villain monologues, because a part of him actually sometimes agreed with such sentiments, and he had heard more than his fair share of monologues in his day. Fighting guys like Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Thanos, and even Ultron will lead to such things almost all the time. Before anyone could comment on Spider-Man's words of hero wisdom though, the web-head froze in his tracks and signaled for everyone to stop for a minute, but Steve did not need to be an expert to know that Peter would only have tensed up like that for one reason and one reason only: his Spider-Sense was tingling. After shouting for everyone to take cover, Spider-Man easily leapt up onto the side of one of the larger scrap walls just mere seconds before the shooting had started.

Thankfully, Captain America was able to get his shield up just before any bullets could so much as touch him or anyone behind him, while Miranda and Jack had managed to reach some cover of their own. A quick glance behind him allowed Cap to tell Kasumi what he needed the master thief to do, and just like that, the kleptomaniac was gone in a flash of light while Garrus was already lining up a few shots with his sniper rifle. Just seconds after Kasumi had vanished into the safety of her stealth cloak, Garrus had downed one of the mercs with a quick, clean shot to the chest, and it was not long afterwards that Kasumi had managed to knock out another merc from behind with a literal shot to the back. The last of the mercs was easily subdued by Spider-Man when he web-zipped over to the wall just above the merc and then easily tied said merc up in a web with the simplest flick of his wrist.

Jack was just about to jump out and shoot the last merc when Steve raced up and called out, "Hold fire! We need at least one of them alive if we want any information on where Okeer is."

Everyone could not help rolling their eyes a little at Jack's huff in response to Cap's orders, but from the way some of the webbing around him was turning red, it was pretty clear that the guy had been shot at least once somewhere on his leg. "Shit, shit," the merc groaned. "It won't stop bleeding. I didn't sign up to get killed by a goddamn insect freak."

"Seriously, you'd think after a century people would've learned by now that spiders are arachnids," Spider-Man quipped with a variation of one of his oldest lines.

"Nobody cares about that, Freak-Show," Jack retorted.

Captain America then stepped forward and motioned for Peter to let his captive down so that they could speak with him, and after readjusting the nozzle on one of his web shooters so that it would emit a solvent to dissolve some of the webbing he had around the guy, Peter easily did so, but the trip down was not a smooth one for the merc, nor was it the least bit gentle. "Alright, I need some answers, and you're going to give them to me," Steve told the merc in an all-business tone that clearly indicated he would not hear any arguments.

The merc obviously missed that, because he immediately spat, "Screw you, Alliance, or whoever you are. I'm not telling you a damn thing."

"Is this the part where one of us is supposed to jump in as the bad cop and beat him up a little, because if so, I wanna be the bad cop," Spider-Man immediately said to his teammates.

Jack had to scoff at that before she chuckled, "You'd never be able to pull off being a bad cop. You're way too soft to do it right."

"Am not," Spider-Man childishly retorted. "I hung out with guys like Wolverine and Daredevil enough times to be able to do a very good impression of them."

"Which any sap with half a damn brain would no doubt see right through."

"You're in no position to refuse," Steve informed the merc, ignoring the banter that was being exchanged behind him while focusing on the goal at hand. "You've no doubt been injured when my arachnid friend over there dropped you, if I had to guess, I'd say a broken leg at the very least, and you're surrounded by some of the best, trained killers and soldiers in the galaxy. Add in the explosions that can easily be heard in the distance, and I'd say that cooperating is your best chance at getting out of here alive and with some small amount of medi-gel."

The merc's gaze wandered through the various members of Steve's team, pausing for a minute longer on Jack and Miranda than the others for obvious reasons, and after seeing enough signs to indicate that the super soldier was most likely being honest in what he said, he immediately looked back to Steve and said, "Alright, alright, what do you wanna know?"

"Let's start with the current location of a krogan warlord by the name of Okeer," Steve suggested.

"You already know more than I do in that regard. I've never even heard of the guy until just now," the merc admitted. "I just kill the crazy krogan that the old one in the lab dumps down here. Jedore hired him to make her an army, but the krogan he creates are insane. So, we use them for live-ammo training. It's all crap! I don't get paid enough to goddamn bleed out or get strung up like a fly in a goddamn spider web."

"Funny thing is, that's actually part of the theme song they made about me a few years ago," Spider-Man muttered to Kasumi.

"Oh, I think I know the one you're talking about. It's kinda catchy," Kasumi nodded in reply.

"Well don't start humming it here or anything, because I find a lot of the songs people wrote about me to be embarrassing," Peter pleaded as he cast a small glance in Garrus's direction. Peter knew for a fact that if his turian friend ever heard so much as one of those more embarrassing songs, Garrus would never let him live it down.

Everyone quickly fell silent again when the merc's communicator suddenly went off as someone called out, _"Outpost Four, Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on that krogan pack."_

The merc cast a small glance towards the people in front of him, but the minute he saw the stern glare that Captain America was giving him, he knew that he did not have any other options on what to say in response to that request. "Uh, patrol? The last group…dispersed. Lost sight five minutes ago."

 _"Dispersed,"_ the man on the other end repeated in disbelief and displeasure. _"Jedore will be pissed. She wanted a show."_

"You asked for a report, you got it: dispersed!"

 _"Understood. Returning to the labs."_

After the line was cut, the merc looked back to the team and said, "There, you see. I'm helping."

"Good choice," Steve nodded. "Now, what else can you tell us about these krogan or what Jedore is planning to do with them?"

"I've told you all I know about the damn krogan: they're crazy and we're supposed to shoot them. We can't go in the labs that they come out of, so anyone up there would be the only ones who know what's going on. As for what Jedore wants with them, I'm guessing she probably wants to replace us with them. I mean, I sure wouldn't want to see an army of them coming at me, but the only problem is that Jedore can't control them. They're all crazy, but then again they're krogan, so how smart are they to start?"

"Sad thing is, he's not entirely wrong about that," Garrus commented, getting nods from just about everyone in response.

"How heavily guarded is the lab," Miranda then asked, hoping that they could get something useful that would help them stay alive as they approached the lab. You did not need to be half as smart as Miranda to know that the team was going to end up going there eventually since it was also the most likely place that Okeer was.

"There are big guns to keep ships away, but we're not outfitted to fight goddamned commandos, let alone ones that have a couple of mutants on their team," the merc immediately retorted.

"Okay, I know it's pretty obvious that he thinks I'm a mutant, which I'm not, but who else do you think he's referring to," Spider-Man asked the group at large.

"Who cares? Can I kill him now," Jack asked, clearly getting a little impatient, while getting the merc riled up with fear at what the bald woman would do to him if someone said yes.

"No," Steve immediately told Jack, causing the merc to breathe a sigh of relief in response until he fell under Captain America's intense glare once again. "But you will need to start limping and crawling now if you want to find a spot to hide until this whole mess is over with."

The merc did not need any more incentive than that to get the hell out of there, and the team just watched in amusement as he left, cursing the whole way as he did. When he was finally gone, Jack had to throw a smirk towards Cap and said, "Okay, I may be a little upset that I didn't get to kill him, but I can admit that was definitely funny."

"I figured you'd think so," Steve revealed with a humorous smile of his own before he pulled out his pistol. "Now, let's go get our warlord from Jedore's lab."

The team immediately nodded in reply to Cap's orders and readied their own weapons before following after him, but as they went, no one heard Spider-Man mutter, "I've got a bad feeling about all this, and it's not my Spider-Sense tingling."

* * *

Not much was said after the team had left the merc they interrogated, aside from the few necessary orders that went out for when they engaged other groups of mercs and the occasional complaint from hearing Jedore barking out her idea of "morale boosters" from over the loudspeaker, and if anyone were being honest with themselves, they were actually rather glad for it. At the same time though, everyone was a bit put off by the strange silence that enveloped them, because Spider-Man had barely said more than what was necessary since they had spoken to the merc. Sure it was something of a relief for some of them that the web-head was not his usual chatty self, but after going for so long without even the simplest of quip or smart remark from him, it started to get a little disconcerting.

Since he knew Peter longer than anyone on the team, Steve was able to realize that part of it was due to the fact that the spider hero was putting a lot of focus into what he was doing, while most of it was likely because he was worrying about something. Peter had always had a small habit of falling into long silences when he became really worried about something for whatever reason, usually because he would think that it was his fault for reasons that only he usually knew, and while Steve had to admit that it was admirable that Peter would often try to shoulder so much responsibility on his own, he knew that it was also a bad idea for Peter to do so for a variety of reasons. Even so, Captain America was sure that the reason for Peter's silence was not because he was feeling responsible for something that had happened recently, but that only meant that whatever had caused the talkative young man to go silent was something of a mystery.

There was not any time to worry about that though, as the team once again walked into another fire fight, only this time, it involved one of the krogan that they had been told about. The krogan in question was armed with only a shotgun, was completely clad in basic krogan armor, helmet included, and at the moment, he was pinned down by a number of Blue Suns mercs that were on the walkway above them. Kasumi and Peter were both quick to race forward and open fire on the mercs since there was not much of a chance for either of the two to make their way up there without getting shot full of holes, allowing Jack and Miranda to get close enough so that they could use their biotics to launch a pair into the air. Once the mercs were airborne, Garrus gladly put a few holes through their heads with some quick, precise shots from his rifle, and with that done, Peter, Kasumi, and Steve easily took out the last two with Spider-Man's repulsors, Kasumi's SMG, and Cap's shield.

With the mercs all gone, the team was left with only the krogan to deal with, and they were all more cautious than one usually would be around a krogan. It was pretty understandable when one considered what they had been told about the krogan that the mercs were fighting on this planet, but the closer they got to the krogan, the less likely it seemed that it would attack them. When Captain America throw a questioning gaze at Spider-Man, a simple head shake in the negative was all the answer one needed to know that even Peter's Spider-Sense was not picking up any signs of warning or indication that the krogan was going to attack them.

The idea that the krogan would not likely be a threat to them was only enforced when Jack finally noted, "Did he really think he would've been able to hit any fucking shit from a distance with a shotgun?"

No one had a chance to answer, as they were all quickly on the defensive when the krogan in question suddenly started moving towards them with his weapon down at his side. When he saw that the krogan was making no other threatening moves, Steve quickly waved for his team to stand down and then looked the slightly larger alien as dead in the eye as he could through the alien's mask. "You…are different," the krogan eventually said in a low, slow voice. "New…you don't smell like this world." When no one said anything in response to this, the krogan stepped back to a respectable distance and continued, "Seven night cycles, and I have only felt the need to kill. But you…something makes me speak."

"Seven _what_? He's a weak old," Jack exclaimed in honest shock.

"Oh my god. He's a clone," Spider-Man moaned in disbelief. "Why, oh why did it have to be clones?!"

"What've you got against clones," Miranda asked with a slight edge in her voice, having remembered part of her earlier discussion with Captain America when she heard that. She did not really know why there was an edge to it, but it was there all the same.

"It's a long story," Spider-Man sighed.

"Not only grown full-sized, but it seems they're also bred to kill. Not much of an improvement over regular mercs if they need training though," Garrus guessed. "Bet Mordin would've loved this."

"That makes one of us," Spider-Man grumbled.

"Bred…to kill," the krogan suddenly asked, cutting into the group's discussion. "No. I kill because my blood and bone tell me to, but it's not why I was flushed from glass mother."

"Glass what-now," Kasumi asked in confusion, only to get a shrug from both Garrus and Spider-Man in response since they were the only ones to acknowledge her question.

"Survival is what I hear in my head against the enemy that threatens all my kind," the krogan continued as though he had not been interrupted, his speech getting better with every passing second. "But I failed even before waking. That is what the voice in the water said, and that is why I wait here."

"Was this voice you heard Okeer's," Steve asked, hoping to get something useful out of their unexpected friend.

"The voice did not give a name. I heard the voice, not like now, with ears. It was inside," the krogan explained as he indicated his head with a finger. "I called it father. It liked that, but it was disappointed. I'm not what it needs me to be."

"If this lab is full of krogan, then it might be some sort of breeding program," Miranda hypothesized. "Maybe something to try and cure the genophage?"

"Cure," the krogan questioned. "Cure was never whispered. Survive, resist, ignore."

"So why was the voice disappointed," Spider-Man asked.

"I don't know," the krogan replied. "It was decided before I left tank mother. I was not perfect."

"Maybe spending his week-long childhood in a tank made him crazy, like that merc said," Kasumi suggested.

"I don't know of that, but I am not perfect," the krogan repeated.

"Isn't anyone curious how this guy can even speak if he's only a fucking week old," Jack asked.

"Trust me, when it comes to clones, they tend to learn basic stuff like talking pretty quickly," Spider-Man answered.

"The one in strange armor is correct in a way," the krogan nodded. "There was a scratching sound in my head that became the voice, and it taught things I would need: walking, talking, hitting, shooting. Then the voice said I was not perfect, and the teachings stopped, and now I am here."

"Fail one test and you're done? What kind of teaching is that," Kasumi asked in slight disbelief.

"One that is only used by a certain variety of people," Spider-Man replied.

Realizing that they would not likely get all that much from this krogan lead Steve to decide that they would be better off just moving forward, so he quickly asked, "Is there a way that you can show us how to get to the lab? We need to speak with Okeer."

"Father…and the glass mother is up, past the broken parts. Behind many of you fleshy things. I will show you," the krogan indicated and he then walked over to a section of the wall that was covered by a large metal plate. After rolling his shoulders a little, the krogan grabbed the massive hunk of metal, picked it up, and chucked it aside with ease.

Everyone only stared at where the krogan had thrown the metal plate before Spider-Man finally said, "Well I could've done that."

"Really," Jack inquired.

"Well…maybe, I just didn't do something like that before because I thought we were going for a more subtle approach," Spidey shrugged in admittance. "That, and I'm not the Hulk. Being strong hurts and it gets tiring after a while, hence the reason why I prefer fighting in a way that utilizes speed and my agility and flexibility."

"That explains so much," Garrus muttered aloud, earning a few chuckles from everyone who heard him while they looked down the large, dark cavern in front of them that had various cables and metal slabs strewn across the walls and ground.

Before they continued on though, Steve thought of something in regards to the krogan and immediately looked over to him as he asked, "You know, you could've run before and tried to get back to the labs if you wanted to, so why did you just stay here?"

"I am waiting," the krogan replied. "The voice told me if they come, I fight, but I will not run, and I will not follow. I am not perfect but I have purpose. I must wait until called. Released."

That gave everyone pause for a moment, and they all found themselves watching on in sadness as the krogan moved back to the middle of the battlefield they were just in so that he could wait for the release he had mentioned, each of them knowing that at this point, there was only going to be one kind of release for him. "Poor bastard," Jack finally said after a minute of silence.

Steve could only silently nod in response before he finally turned back to his team and said, "He may not have chosen a path that any of us like, but it was still something that he chose. We don't have any right to take that away from him, so there's really nothing more we can do for him now. Let's just focus on the job at hand and get a move on so that we can leave this planet as soon as possible."

"Yes sir," everyone chorused in response, and like that, everyone was moving forward again, even if some of them ended up shooting a few last backwards glances at the krogan until he was well out of sight. They did not have to go very far before they were fighting again, only this time they were dealing with both Blue Suns mercs and crazy krogan shooting at them, and having to deal with both at the same time did not make things any easier for the team.

"Kasumi, Miranda, we'll focus on the mercs," Steve shouted as he dived to the side in order to avoid being hit by a rocket and then raised his shield to deflect any incoming bullets that were directed at him. "Garrus, go for the guys that are further away; prioritize any that are trying to get closer to our position. Spider-Man, Jack…you two get the big guys."

"Hell yeah," Jack whooped in reply as her biotics flared to life, and immediately afterwards, she was throwing one of the approaching krogan into the air with a biotic Pull. That krogan did not stay in the air for long, as it was soon blasted out of the fight by a well-placed repulsor blast from Spider-Man, who then flipped into the air so that he could web-zip a second krogan. After landing his initial strike, Spider-Man easily pulled his disoriented target over his head and launched the krogan into the air, leaving him wide-open for when Jack finished him off with a series of Warp Ammo enhanced shots.

"Figures they'd get the fun job," Garrus muttered as he took out three different Blue Suns mercs with little to no effort at all.

"Less talking and more shooting," Miranda scolded as she used her own biotics to send a few different mercs into the air for Kasumi and Captain America to take out with whatever weapons or moves they had at their disposal. After eliminating her targets, Kasumi then vanished from sight once again with her cloak and moved around to get behind her next targets, only having to duck down once when Captain America had thrown his shield at some mercs that were near her position and the disk bounced off the walls. Normally, Kasumi would have had some sort of funny remark to say in response to such an action, but since she was cloaked behind enemy lines at the moment, she knew that doing so, even over a secure channel would probably have been a bad idea, so she kept moving until she was in position to let loose a hail of bullets from her Shuriken SMG.

As soon as Steve had incapacitated the last of their current attackers, the team quickly moved on to the first of no doubt many staircase so that they could make their way up to the lab they had been informed of, and they were soon engaged in many more battles like that previous one. Thankfully, the formation and tactics that they used were easily applied to each and every battle after that first one, so they did not have much to worry about, and they only found a need to change tactics every once in a while. Even in such instances though, it was not much of a change, as it usually involved Spider-Man acting as a distraction for someone to land a finishing blow that would speed up the fight or having Jack or Miranda throw up a biotic barrier to shield the team when there was no satisfactory cover to use. With such things in mind, it was actually understandable that everyone was starting to get a little bored, but they mostly just chalked that up to the fact that they had already fought so many different Blue Suns groups now, which meant they had likely learned their tactics by heart.

Of course, Jedore did not sound very pleased with their progress either, but for an entirely different reason. _"Squad Four? Outpost?! DAMMIT! DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF?!"_

"Oh I'm sure you're doing _everything_ you can with barking out at everyone all day like an angry dog," Spider-Man drawled in response, drawing chuckles from everyone as soon as he had said that.

"If I don't get the chance to kill that bitch before we leave, then this krogan had better be worth this shitload of trouble," Jack snarled afterwards.

"Not to mention the headache," Garrus added.

"That too," Jack agreed after a minute of consideration.

They did not hear from Jedore again after that point, something that everyone was immensely grateful for, but they did have a small encounter with someone that Garrus recognized from his days aboard the _Normandy SR-1_ , an asari that had been working at a facility run by Saren. While the turian of the group was rather upset to see the young asari was working in another lab like the last one he found her in, he did not shoot her for a number of reasons. One of the big reasons was that despite the jobs she had taken up until now she was still just a civilian who was honestly trying to do some good in the world, and another was the fact that she shut down the security cameras when she saw that he was part of the group that was shooting up the place. The fact that he did not want to shoot her in the back when she was already leaving the area also had something to do with it, but such things did not matter for anyone, because they were now closing on the lab that they needed to find.

As soon as the asari scientist had left, the team quickly crossed the room and entered the lab that they had been looking for, inside which was numerous amounts of scientific equipment that Steve and Peter both thought that someone like Tony Stark or Reed Richards could have assembled in their garage, yet the various notes on the other hand were most certainly something that a few scientists could have admired. On their right was a large window that looked out on a lower area that was practically littered with tanks with krogans inside of them, and there, in front of the window, was a krogan in faded, yellowish-green and brown armor standing over a computer that was plugged into a tank that seemed to be larger than the ones downstairs. Inside the tank itself was a large krogan with multiple spikes on his head as opposed to the usual single plate, decked out in advanced, silver armor. While the krogan in the tank seemed to catch Spider-Man's attention for some reason, everyone else was more focused on the krogan that seemed to be working hurriedly at the computer.

"Here you are," the krogan growled in a low voice. "I've watched your progress, and it's really about time you got here. The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs."

"Okeer, I presume," Steve asked as he holstered his pistol, yet still kept his shield ready for action just in case. "You seem rather free for someone who was believed to be imprisoned, and ungrateful that we're even here."

"You may claim to be here to help, but a formerly deceased Avenger is not a sign of gentle change, let alone two," Okeer snarled in response. The two would have continued to banter back and forth had Okeer not noticed how Spider-Man was staring rather closely at the krogan in the tank. "Impressed with my specimen, arachnid," Okeer savagely grinned, startling Peter a little when he was suddenly spoken to. "The knowledge and technology to create this one pure soldier was costly, but well worth it. With him, I will unleash upon the genophage the greatest insult an enemy can suffer: to be ignored."

That quickly started raising a few red flags for some, but Captain America easily found an opening in that declaration he could use, and immediately asked, "And did any of that information or technology come from the Collectors?"

"Ah yes, in fact, some of it did," Okeer proudly admitted, making everyone bristle a little when they heard that pride. "I have heard that Collector attacks have increased, but that is a human concern. I preferred to focus my requests elsewhere; namely on my prototype."

"And what exactly did you get from the Collectors? I'm going to need anything and everything you know about them," Captain America requested, making sure that it was clear that he would not accept anything less from Okeer.

Okeer did not seem to have a problem with revealing such information, and he immediately revealed, "They are strange. So isolated yet very available when your sacrifice is big enough. I gave them many krogan."

That seemed to be all that Okeer needed to say before a certain spider finally snapped, because the minute the krogan warlord had said that, he was blown into the wall by a powerful repulsor blast and then pinned there by Spider-Man's arm as he raised his free arm's repulsor to Okeer's head. "You just gave up all of those lives like they were nothing more than tools to be discarded," Spider-Man snarled. "They may have been clones, but they were still living beings! You could've found a way to help your people with them, maybe even find a way to cure the genophage."

"I need perfection, so if a few thousand perish then so be it. My work will purify the krogan; we will not be restored, we will be renewed," Okeer grinned in response. "Besides, why should I try to cure the genophage?"

"Maybe because that's something of the traditional krogan ideal," Garrus suggested while making no move to pull Peter off of Okeer.

"Contrary to what survivors claim, the genophage does not produce strong krogan. The only quality it filters is the ability to survive the genophage. For every thousand stillborn, too many weaklings live, because every survivor is branded as precious! It's produced more coddling than the collective human teethes," Okeer snarled in disgust, which was not as easy as he thought it would be given how Spider-Man was pressing his arm more tightly against his throat the more he spoke. "I say let us carry the genophage. Let a thousand die in a clutch, and we will defeat it by climbing atop our dead, for that is the krogan way."

That proved to be the wrong thing for Okeer to say, as an instant later, Spider-Man had blasted him in the face with his repulsor point-blank. It may not have done all that much, given that krogans could take quite a great deal of punishment, but Spider-Man had still not increased the energy output of his weapons to maximum, so that may have had something to do with it as well. Okeer just grinned at Spider-Man's viciousness, and the web-head would have continued beating down on the warlord if Captain America had shouted for him to stop, snapping Peter out of his blind rage. The minute he had calmed down a little, Spider-Man let Okeer drop to the floor and looked down at him as he snarled in disgust, "You've just made the top five in the list of all the sick scientists I've ever met, but despite how twisted and messed up you are, you're still not even in the top spot. You don't even make the second best on that list."

Everyone stared at Spider-Man for a minute as he made his way back over to the tank with the so-called perfect krogan that Okeer had created, some of them thinking that they would have to re-evaluate their opinion of him as he did, but mostly in the case of Jack if the stunned look on her face was any indication. Steve just watched Peter stare at Okeer's experiment for a minute before he glared back at Okeer and admitted, "You do seem to know how to deconstruct a threat, but your methods are a little too extreme for my tastes, so you should consider yourself lucky I stopped Spider-Man when I did. I was very tempted to tell him to kill you."

Okeer just scoffed at this, thinking that the super soldier was bluffing, and just stood up as he proposed, "Perhaps I can strike a deal for you to provide me with safe passage off of this world. Anything you wish for with the exception of my prototype; that is the only thing that is non-negotiable. It is the key to my legacy."

"I'd believe that if it was only your legacy," Spider-Man suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention onto him once more. "Cap, this prototype of Okeer's…it's got a very unique radiation signature on him."

"What kind of radiation signature," Steve inquired.

"The kind that results in big, green, angry, and a need for smashing," Peter revealed. Seeing that he was getting a confused look from most of the team, Spidey went on to add, "This guy has a gamma ray signature that practically matches that of the big guy."

"Are you saying that this prototype of Okeer's is…" Steve started to ask in disbelief.

"Yep. This so-called perfect krogan isn't just a krogan. If I had to give it a name, I'd say it's more like a Krogan-Hulk," Spider-Man nodded.

This time it was Captain America who was glaring at Okeer as he demanded, "How the hell did you create a krogan version of the Hulk?"

"With the technology that the Collectors provided of course," Okeer admitted. "I used all of the technology for the creation of my prototype after I discovered how to use it without killing the subjects."

"Rogers, if this thing really is what Spider-Man is claiming it to be, then we can't let him keep his hands on it," Miranda immediately said. "The Hulk was dangerous even at the best of times, so if this Krogan-Hulk were unleashed on the galaxy without proper direction…I'd rather not imagine what would happen."

"I told you my prototype is not negotiable," Okeer protested.

"That was before I found out you were following in the footsteps of people like Thunderbolt Ross," Steve quickly argued.

Before the argument could go any further, Jedore's voice came over the intercom again, with the Blue Suns leader announcing, _"Attention: I've traced the krogan release. Okeer, of course."_

"Oh goody, she's back," Kasumi exclaimed in false excitement.

"And the bitch is just outside," Jack added as she pointed out the window into the area of the lab that was filled with tanks that held krogan clones galore.

Everyone immediately looked to see that sure enough, a brunette woman in heavy Blue Suns armor was down in the middle of the room full of tanks, speaking into a headset that allowed her to continue speaking over the intercom. _"I'm calling 'Blank Slate' on this project. Gas these commandoes and we'll start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks."_

No one needed to hear that Spider-Man's Spider-Sense was tingling this time, because mere seconds later, the pipes on the walls began bursting and pouring poisonous gas into the rooms, making everyone else worried while Okeer just snarled in disgust. "She's that weak-willed? She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve," Okeer demanded.

"No, she'll kill your legacy, you, and all of us with a damned valve if we don't make like bananas and split now," Spider-Man clarified.

"No! If you want information on the Collectors, then stop her," Okeer demanded.

"And why the hell should we do that," Jack asked. "I may want to kill that bitch, but I don't see why we should stick our necks out for you like that."

"Because you will get nothing if we all perish," Okeer pointed out. "I can't let my legacy die here."

"Well if it's that important to you, then just start over again like she plans to. You obviously don't have a problem with sacrificing living beings," Spider-Man argued in a tone that was so pointed it could have been used as the sharpest sword in existence.

"I can't do that," Okeer revealed as he turned what could most closely be described as a soft gaze to the tank with the Krogan-Hulk inside of it. "This tank is pure; it involved as much trial as data. Starting over will not duplicate it. It must survive. I will stay, and do what must be done."

In all honesty, Steve agreed with Spider-Man's sentiment when Peter had called Okeer one of the worst insults to scientists he had ever met, but at the same time, he could not deny that they needed the information that Okeer claimed to have. Plus, if they just left now, then this whole mission would have been for nothing, and ultimately be a complete failure. There was also no denying that the tank-bred krogan that was likely infused with the power of a Hulk could come in handy, so that made his decision on how to proceed all the more easier. "Let's move out," Captain America ordered. "Jack, Spider-Man, take point and lead the charge. Everyone else, get ready to give Jedore and her people hell."

"Gladly," everyone simultaneously responded, some with a bit more viciousness or excitement than others, while Okeer just walked over to his computer and began typing away as rapidly as he could in an attempt to save his "legacy" from Jedore's underhanded tactics.

The minute that the team had reached the lower levels with all the tanks, Jedore had immediately turned her attention and her weapons on them with very little hesitation. After Jedore fired her first rocket at them, the team was quick to dive to the side in order to avoid being hit, and Jack immediately snarled, "The bitch is mine."

"Jack wait," Captain America shouted, but it was too late; Jack had already used her biotics to rush towards Jedore in a flash of light. When Jack had rematerialized again, she slammed her fist into Jedore as hard as she could with her biotics enhancing her blow, and Jedore was sent flying into a nearby console. The minute the Blue Suns leader had hit said console, her arm ended up tripping the control to open all the tanks in the room, and soon enough, a small army of krogan were swarming all over everyone. Jedore did not help matters in dealing with the berserk krogan clones, but instead, she activated a nearby YMIR mech that immediately started shooting at everyone in its sights besides her, forcing the team to scatter to cover once again while Steve just cursed at their luck today. "Miranda, Spider-Man, Garrus, restrain or take down those krogan before they tear the whole place apart! Kasumi, disable that mech!"

"You've got it, Taicho," Kasumi nodded with a mock salute before she leapt out with her cloak activating while she was on the move, just as an extra precaution that would allow her to get close to the mech without it shooting her.

"What about you," Miranda asked as she leveled her SMG on a krogan who's feet Spider-Man had just webbed to the floor.

"I'm going to help Jack," Steve replied, and he quickly leapt into action once he had said as much. Captain America's journey over to the former convict was not an easy one, but none of the krogan or incoming fire from the YMIR mech made much of a difference in slowing his pace, and soon enough, he was coming up on Jack's position right when the bald woman was preparing to unleash another blast of biotics on Jedore. Unfortunately, Jedore was just a little faster than Jack and managed to fire off a few rounds from her shotgun, immediately disabling Jack's shields in a matter of seconds, but fortunately, Captain America was able to intervene just in time to save Jack from being blown apart by the rocket that Jedore fired at Jack.

"I had that under control," Jack insisted as she jumped out from behind Cap and his trusted shield with her Scimitar firing with Warp Ammo.

"Well I wasn't willing to take that chance," Steve easily quipped in reply as he pulled out his Predator pistol so that he was soon firing on Jedore as well. "If you still want to get at her though, you can at least let me watch your back so that she doesn't pull a fast one on you."

Jack just shrugged as her biotics flared to life once more and said, "Have it your way, Boy Scout."

Steve counted that as a victory in his book when it came to getting Jack to be a bit more friendly with someone on the team, and focused his attention on deflecting any shots or enemies that tried to get close to their position while occasionally sparring a few shots on Jedore so that the Blue Suns merc could not get one over on Jack again. At one point, Captain America tossed his shield right into Jedore's front, and let the vibranium disk find its way into Jack's hands, much to the bald biotic's slight glee. Jack did not waste any time infusing the vibranium shield with some of her own biotics and she quickly unleashed hell on Jedore with the two before she tossed it back to Steve so he could use it to swipe an incoming krogan's feet out from under him and finish him off with an easy shot to the head. When he turned back to the others, he saw that while Kasumi had managed to disable the YMIR mech, the others were still having some trouble dealing with their berserk opponents, and that was when he got a slightly crazy idea.

"Jack, you ever hear what happens when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object," Captain America asked.

"Why the fuck are you asking something like that now," Jack asked.

Steve's only response was to hold his shield in front of him and give it a slight tap, indicating what he wanted the biotic to do, and when she figured out what he was planning, Jack could only give a maniac grin in response. An instant later, after Steve had shouted for the team to get to cover, Jack was sending the most powerful biotic blast she could manage directly into the indestructible shield of Captain America, and the result proved to be rather explosive. The resulting blast encompassed the entire area, knocking out every single opponent that the _Normandy_ team was facing, and if it did not kill them, it certainly knocked them out, or disorient them long enough for the team to finish them off, with Jack taking great pleasure in the fact that she finished things up by killing Jedore with a single shot to the head.

"Finally, this bitch shuts the fuck up," Jack sighed in relief.

"Now all we need to do is figure out a way to keep Spidey from delivering some type of quip or bad joke every five seconds and we'll have a little peace and quiet," Garrus commented.

"Hey, I may talk a lot, but I'm not as bad as that woman was. Besides, you want someone who's really annoying, I'm sure Deadpool's probably around somewhere," Spider-Man retorted.

"Oh my god, can we please not even think of mentioning the idea of so much as contacting that maniac," Miranda begged.

"You won't find anyone arguing with that sentiment," Captain America informed Miranda, gaining a small smile out of the genetically perfect woman when he did while Spider-Man just nodded in agreement with the first Avenger. All joking and banter was immediately halted when an alarm suddenly sounded in the lab, catching everyone's attention.

"So, anyone else hoping there's a chance that doesn't mean something bad for once," Kasumi asked in hopeful optimism.

"I'm not counting on it," Spider-Man stated.

 ** _"Rogers, the lab alarms coincided with a systems failure,"_** EDI reported over the team's comms. **_"The remaining lab systems are unprotected, and I have gained limited access."_**

"What can you tell me about the situation up there, EDI," Steve asked.

 ** _"According to lab scanners, the room is flooded with toxins, and Okeer's personal life signs are failing rapidly. I recommend haste."_**

Captain America really did not need to hear that recommendation, as he was already a few steps ahead of the AI in that regard. "Spider-Man, get up there on the double. We'll meet you there."

"Will do," Spider-Man nodded, and he was immediately launching himself up to Okeer's lab with a powerful web-slingshot, while the team raced for the stairway that would take them back up. Thankfully, after many struggles against guys like Kraven the hunter and Green Goblin, Peter had more than enough sense to have installed an oxygen mask into his suit's helmet, so none of the toxins affected him, but sadly, Peter quickly saw that Okeer had not been so lucky to have had such protection on him.

When the team finally made it up to the lab, Spider-Man had finished checking for any indications that Okeer would still be alive as best as he could, only to find unsatisfactory results. "Sorry Cap. He's gone," Peter reported.

"So even after all that shit, it was all for nothing," Jack asked in angry disbelief.

"Not entirely," Garrus said as he indicated Okeer's computer. "Looks like he left us a message."

Steve immediately approached the terminal, and the minute he was in front of it, the message started playing. _"You gave me time, Captain America. If I knew why the Collectors wanted humans, I would tell you, but everything is in my prototype,"_ the recording of Okeer said as the monitor showed the old warlord leaning on the console for whatever support he could get. _"My legacy…is pure. This…one soldier. This…grunt…perfect."_

When the recording ended, everyone's eyes had immediately turned towards Okeer's apparently perfect krogan in both amazement and awe, but it was not due to the nature of the tank-bred krogan that was in it; it was due to what his creator had gone through to make sure he lived. "After all he's done, he was willing to die to save this thing," Kasumi asked in astonishment, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.

"Well I did say that he was completely crazy," Spider-Man reminded everyone. "Besides, this thing is part Hulk, so if what I've heard about krogan in general is any indication, then that makes him pretty valuable in several different ways."

"Crack it open. Let's see what a Krogan-Hulk's got," Jack suggested, clearly still coming down from her adrenaline rush from the earlier fight.

"No, it's too dangerous! We should just kill it now," Miranda protested.

"Whoa, hold on a minute! A krogan in general packs one hell of a punch, so just imagine what a Krogan-Hulk could bring to the table. It's not like we couldn't use another heavy hitter," Garrus pointed out.

"Yeah, a heavy hitter, not a raging monster," Kasumi argued.

"We're bringing him with us," Captain America said, getting everyone's attention. "I agree that it may be risky letting him out, but it would be even more of risk to just leave him here for someone else to find, even if we did kill him here. Besides, if what Okeer said is any indication, then this Krogan-Hulk could be a big help against the Collectors."

No one had any arguments to that bit of logic, and Captain America was the boss, so in the end, everyone had to give some sense of acknowledgement to Steve's orders. Seeing that his team was agreeing with him, Cap immediately tapped his comm. device and radioed the ship. " _Normandy_ , this is Rogers. Okeer's a no-go, but we have a package that needs retrieval…and he's a big one."

 _"Roger, Cap. We're sending a shuttle to get that package and your team now,"_ Jacob replied a second later.

Steve gave the ship his thanks and looked back at the tank, thinking about everything that would no doubt ensue once they had gotten this Krogan-Hulk back to the ship. At the reminder of just what this particular krogan was, Captain America's thoughts quickly drifted back to his days in the Age of Marvels whenever he fought alongside any of the various Hulks, be it the original or one of the others that had come about over the years. There was certainly no denying that any one Hulk could prove to be a big advantage in any fight worth having, or just any fight at all, really, and when one added that to the strength of even a normal krogan, there was no telling how much of an advantage this krogan could bring to the table for his team. Of course, there was still the matter that this Krogan-Hulk was grown and educated by a madman, so that provided a rather large concern, but Captain America was not willing to just kill this creature simply because he could be too dangerous. In the end, it would all depend on what would happen after they had returned to the ship, and if this guy did prove to be a problem…well, Steve was going to make absolute sure that he had his shield on him if and when he opened the tank.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, there you have it. The reason why Hulk's only "technically" in the story, is because I went and gave you all something that could potentially be better than the Hulk...a krogan with the Hulk's strength and power._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Does anyone else find that to be a scary thought?_**

 ** _AN: Maybe, but you see, one of the biggest things I had been thinking about when I had been planning out this story is actually the question of who would win between some of the best krogan in the ME Universe and the Hulk, and that got me to thinking, "If these guys are both the strongest fighters in their respective franchises, then what would happen if we put the two together?" That led me to the idea that Grunt could be the guy who answered that question, because since he's already tank-bred, it wouldn't be all that hard for him to be given the Hulk's power, and so the Krogan-Hulk was born._**

 ** _Now, I didn't address this sooner, but I am going to address it now: a guest review from one "cmartist". I understand your concerns about the story, but let me try to put them to rest as much as I possibly can._**

 ** _1) I know a good amount of the dialogue seems that way, but I am doing my best to keep it original while also mixing it up with how it would be phrased by Captain America, and how he would respond to certain things as well. To be honest, a lot of times, Shepard would really be giving the same kinds of responses that Shepard would give._**

 ** _2) I know that there's a bit of a lack when it comes to the Marvel aliens, but at the moment, there's really no good way for me to really get them involved in the story just yet. The reason why the Kree and the Shi'ar don't have as much political clout against the Council may or may not be revealed later on down the line, and the reason why Cerberus brought Captain America back instead of asking either of the two for help is because, hello! Cerberus is human-centric by default, and even though they are asking for alien help in the way of the_ Normandy _team, it's usually just one of each type of alien. Plus, after the crap that humanity has gone through when dealing with those two races, do you really think they're going to call them for help without expecting it to blow up in their faces later?_**

 ** _3) Not all of the opponents that the Avengers went up against are considered to be myths, but in cases like that of the Phoenix, an entity that brings about destruction and rebirth in the blink of an eye, do you really think they would want to think for a minute that such a thing could have existed? Plus, and this ties into the previous thing as well, space is a really big place with who-knows-what out there and no known limits. There's always some mystery or legend that people would want to hope is not true, and as a result, would do anything to dismiss it out of the fear that it is._**

 ** _Jacob: Hey quick question. What was that thing you had Cap do with Jack near the end there, exactly?_**

 ** _AN: Oh that. Well think of it as a biotic version of what happens when Thor slams his hammer into Cap's shield. If you guys have seen The Avengers or The Avengers: Age of Ultron, then you know what I'm talking about. Before anyone says anything about how that would not work though or that a biotic could break Cap's shield or something, let me just say right now, that you have no proof that says it couldn't work, plus, let's face it, that whole thing that Thor does when he slams his hammer against something like Cap's shield like that is awesome, so why wouldn't I try to work some alternate version of it into the story?_**

 ** _Now that that's covered, I'm just gonna say now that next chapter may seem a little more laid back, because I didn't want to just jump right into the next big adventure of ME2, ie. the mission on Horizon. Think of it as the calm before the storm type of chapter, if you will. For more information, move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The newest addition to the_** **Normandy _team has everyone slightly on edge, yet at the same time, it also give some people a bit of relief. Seems that having something that combines the strength of a krogan with the Hulk is something of a reassurance for the crew's chances of surviving the mission for some reason. In an attempt to ease tensions, everyone takes some time to just catch their breathes and relax for a minute, whether it be over some friendly meals or training for the upcoming battles. Hopefully, it's just what everyone ends up needing before the next big mission. Find out next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	8. Taking a Breather

_**AN: Hey everybody, and a happy May the 4th be with you! Now I know it would probably be a bit more appropriate for me to post/update a Star Wars story today, but there's just two problems with that. One problem is that I don't have any Star Wars stories to update, so obviously can't do that...**_

 _ **[audience laughter]**_

 _ **The other problem is that I'm still working through the planning stages of the only idea I have for a Star Wars story at this time. Plus, I'm doing my utmost best to avoid posting any new stories at the moment, at least until I've finished Chaos Hunters, so until then, you'll just have to settle for the closest thing I have to such a story.**_

 _ **Before we go any further, let's answer a few reviews. EDI, would you be so kind to bring up the list?**_

 _ **EDI: Of course lyokoMARVELanime. First review that is listed as needing to be addressed is from the reviewer "HaywireEagle"**_

 _ **AN: Right, the one that said the Krogan-Hulk thing was a bit iffy for him and that it seems to go against Okeer's ideals. You have to keep in mind that the one thing that Okeer wanted more than anything for Grunt to do was to be the strongest and "climb atop the weak", so what better way to do that than by adding a bit of Hulk-variety gamma ray power into our favorite tank-bred krogan. As for turning a species like the krogan into a Hulk being a bad idea, well that's kind of the point, and why it just makes the idea even more awesome. Just imagine the kind of damage that kind of thing could do against say the Collectors, the rachni, or the Reapers?**_

 _ **EDI: Next review to respond to is one from "Harley Quinn-PsychoticAntiHero"**_

 _ **AN: Right, the one that suggested imagining a Krogan-Yahg-Hulk. Honestly, that's a little too scary to imagine, even for me. Don't think I've forgotten what a yahg could do when you had to fight him in the Lair of the Shadowbroker mission, so I don't want to even think about what would happen if you mixed something like that with the Hulk alone.**_

 _ **EDI: Next is from "Phygmalion" who asked a very important question regarding the symbiotes while also mentioning a few points about Galactus.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, starting with the latter, I doubt the Council really wants to see Galactus any time soon, considering who he is, and I think the only thing that would be scarier than Galactus fighting a Reaper, would be Galactus acting as a servant of the Reapers, like a type of advance scout similar to Sovereign or Harbinger. As for the symbiotes, there's not really any plan regarding them at this point in time, but you never know what may happen later on down the line.**_

 _ **EDI: I also cannot help but note how you've had at least one or two reviews requesting whether or not certain MARVEL characters would show up later on or not.**_

 _ **AN: Now to answer that question would be giving a spoiler, and you know how I am about spoilers, but I will say that some of you might be rather pleased with what you learn by the end of this chapter.**_

 _ **Speaking of which, not going to be a lot of real action this time around, as this is something of a little thing that happens in between missions, and I did not want to jump right into the adventure on Horizon without showing that everyone's taking a minute to catch their breathes this time, so enjoy as much of it as you can. You might find a few funny moments later on down the line. Plot a course to the chapter!**_

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Taking a Breather**

Steve was not really sure how long the team had spent arguing over whether or not they release the Krogan-Hulk, as everyone had now affectionately started calling him, but he did know that both sides of the argument had valid points. Unsurprisingly, Miranda was the one leading the side that argued against releasing their newest passenger from his tank, and she ended up pointing out quite a few times that while bringing the Krogan-Hulk aboard for study alone was a smart idea, letting it out could indeed pose a great security risk to the ship. Either a normal krogan, or even a normal Hulk alone were unpredictable and often hard to control at times, especially when either one was angry enough, and when one added in the fact that this Krogan-Hulk was created and likely educated by Okeer, who was a fully certifiable madman, there was no telling what it could do to the ship when it was just slightly annoyed. On the other hand, there were also the arguments that were in favor of releasing the Krogan-Hulk, and surprisingly, it was both Garrus and Spider-Man who were leading that side of things. Steve valued both of the two friends' opinions of course, seeing as Garrus had fought against and alongside more krogan than most of the people on the ship likely had and knew just how valuable having even a basic krogan on the team would be, while Spider-Man knew firsthand what it was like working with the Hulk. As a result, they were both able to make a strong case as to why having such a powerhouse could prove to be more beneficial in the long run in a battle against the Collectors, and likely even afterwards. Plus, with two former Avengers on this team, it was smarter to release the Krogan-Hulk on the ship where he could learn from people who knew how to handle someone with Hulk's powers over letting him out into the larger galaxy to figure things out all on his own.

The two sides continued arguing both points back and forth for what was likely many hours, often times even pointing out some of their points more than once, until finally, Cap felt that he had enough of arguing in circles and pointed out that in the end, it was his decision on whether or not they released the Krogan-Hulk from the tank. He did make sure that everyone was assured that he had listened to and considered each of the points that everyone had made before dismissing the team to do what they wanted to, along with assuring everyone that until he did make his decision, the cargo hold would likely be secure enough for their new big friend. Once everyone had dispersed, all that was left to do at that point was to make a final decision on what to do with the Krogan-Hulk, and while others would be hard-pressed to really make up their minds on the matter with each sides of the argument being well placed before them, for Captain America, the decision was surprisingly easy, hence the reason he was now down in the cargo hold looking at the Krogan-Hulk in question while he sat in his tank.

"EDI, what's the status on our big friend here," Steve inquired of the ship's AI.

 **"Subject is stable, Captain Rogers. Integration with onboard systems was seamless** ," EDI reported.

Steve nodded in response to that, though he was not entirely sure whether or not that would register with the AI, but at the moment, he was more concerned with another matter regarding the previously mentioned big friend. "Can he see anything in there?"

 **"Unlikely. Current neural patterns indicate minimal cognition. Barring ship-wide power loss, the nutrients in the tank could sustain him for over a year."**

"EDI, could you say that again in English, or in a way that I can understand," Steve then requested.

 **"In layman's terms, he is dreaming."**

Steve nodded in response to this before he decided that it was time to get one last opinion on how wise it would be to release this Krogan-Hulk from the tank. "What's your opinion on how dangerous this guy is, EDI?"

 **"He is a krogan, Rogers, and one that has been supplemented and enhanced with the powers of the Earth hero known as the Incredible Hulk. That alone would indicate how dangerous he could potentially be. If you are asking whether he is actively hostile, I don't have the necessary data to answer. Okeer's technology could only impart data, not methods of thinking. The subject may know of his views, but would not necessarily share them."**

"That's all I needed to hear," Steve stated with a small smile. "I'm going to open the tank."

 **"Cerberus protocol is very clear regarding untested alien technology,"** EDI started to say, until the super soldier interrupted.

"He's not a piece of tech, EDI, he's a living being. More importantly, he could be either a powerful addition to the team or an extremely dangerous time bomb that could easily lay waste to any corner of the galaxy without someone to give him proper guidance. Personally, I'd rather deal with this now rather than leave it until later when it's too late," Steve argued as he approached the tank's switch.

 **"Very well, Captain. The controls are online. The switch and consequences are yours,"** EDI finally informed Steve after what seemed like a small moment of hesitation on her part.

As he reached for said switch, Steve found himself wondering if Stark ever felt this nervous when he was about to do something similar to what the legendary captain was about to do, but all the same, there was no turning back now, and Steve always knew that it was better to be a little nervous about something than it was to be overconfident and cocky, because that way you were more likely to make fewer mistakes. After one last glance into the tank, Steve finally tapped the release controls and then stepped back while the tank opened itself up. As soon as the release switch had been hit, the tank had started beeping a warning to signify its opening while the liquid inside of it started draining out, letting the Krogan-Hulk inside of it drop down onto the surface inside of the tank. When the casing finally opened up, the krogan ended up falling onto all-fours and coughing up some excess liquid that had found its way into his mouth. When he finally stood up straight again, Steve only had the barest of minutes to notice how the krogan had slitted, green eyes like the Hulk had before the krogan finally charged him and pinned him to a wall before the super soldier could reach for his shield.

"Human…male," the krogan noted with a rough voice as he leveled his gaze with Cap's, likely as a way of identifying who or what he had pinned to the wall while testing out his voice to make sure he could use it at all. "Before you die, I need a name."

"Are you asking for my name, or for your own," Steve inquired as best as he could with the large arm that was pressing against his throat while reaching for the pistol he had brought with him just in case.

"Mine," the krogan clarified. "I'm trained, I know things, but the tank…Okeer couldn't implant connection. His words are hollow." He then paused as if he were thinking about something, as evidenced when he next spoke and gave voice to his thoughts. "Warlord…legacy…grunt…" At the last word he seemed to pause until he finally said, "Grunt was among the last. It has no meaning…it'll do. I am Grunt. If you are worthy of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me."

"First off, you're wrong about how the word grunt has no meaning," Steve corrected, drawing a curious gaze from the krogan. "It means you, and your beginning."

"Maybe…" the now-named, Grunt mused, not really noticing how his hold on Steve had tightened just a little without his meaning to. "And what's the other thing?"

"Why kill someone…who can help you," Steve gasped as best as he could. When he heard that, Grunt lessened his hold a little, letting Cap breathe a little more easily and then say, "Surely you've noticed that you have a power and a strength that no other krogan possesses, haven't you?"

"I…did notice something inside me, but it is…clouded by anger, rage…you know what it is," Grunt inquired.

"I do, it's something that's part of a great legacy of an old friend of mine, and one of the mightiest heroes in the galaxy," Steve revealed. "But in your hands, it's still new, un-tempered, and not so easily controlled. I can help you learn how to control it."

"How do I know that I won't find someone better than you to help me learn about this power," Grunt inquired. "I see no reason to not just kill you here and now before seeking out a teacher."

"As far as anyone knows, the only ones who can really teach you how to harness the power of the Hulk are both right here on this ship, and I'm one of those two people," Steve argued. That seemed to catch Grunt's attention enough to make him seriously start thinking over what Steve had said, and seeing that he had such attention on the matter, Cap quickly added, "Just know, that if you intend to use this power for Okeer's goals and ideals, then neither one of us will teach you how to use it, because it is not meant for the purposes of that madman."

Grunt just scoffed in response to the latter statement, and then revealed, "I feel nothing for Okeer's clan or his enemies. I'll do what I'm bred to do: fight and determine the strongest, but his imprint has failed. Without a reason that's mine, one fight is as good as any other."

Steve smiled a little at hearing this, as it showed that Grunt did indeed have the potential to be as much of a force for good as the Hulk had been, maybe even more so, and then went on to say, "Then that's all the more reason to join me. Not only can I help you learn how to channel and control that special power of yours, but I also have a good ship and a strong crew. A strong clan, if you will, and you would make it even stronger."

Grunt seemed to pause in thought once again, clearly considering Steve's offer more heavily than before, until he finally looked back to the super soldier and warned, "If you're weak and choose weak enemies, I'll have to kill you."

"Our enemies are most certainly strong, no question about that. I myself have fought many powerful, worthy enemies in the past, and I can guarantee that won't be changing any time soon."

Grunt let this mull over in his mind for a minute or so until he finally grunted in acceptance and said, "That's acceptable. I'll fight for you."

"I'm glad to hear that you agree to this," Steve smiled as Grunt finally let up on his hold enough so that he could breathe normally again, at which point the Krogan-Hulk noticed Steve holding his pistol at his stomach. For a moment, Cap was actually worried that Grunt would lash out for the super soldier holding a gun on him, but instead, Grunt actually chuckled in response as he let go of Steve completely.

"Offer one hand, but arm the other. You are clearly wise," Grunt nodded. "And now, I am asking for your name. Who are you?"

"My name is Captain Steve Rogers, better known on Earth and in a few corners of the galaxy as Captain America," the super soldier revealed.

That drew a small look of surprise from Grunt, and the Krogan-Hulk did not take long to explain the reason for such surprise. "That name is…familiar to me. I know of its significance from what little human history I learned from the tank, but something inside of me seems to demand that I grant it respect, acknowledgement, and…something else."

While this did come as a mild surprise to Steve, it was not entirely shocking, and he quickly went on to suggest, "Maybe it's because you have the power and genetic relations to the strongest hero in Earth history, maybe even the entire galaxy: the Hulk. He was a good friend of mine who helped me to save the world many times before, and I'm sure that you would honor his legacy by fighting with us as well."

Grunt seemed to consider these words until he finally let out a wide, savage grin and said, "Sounds like fun. If I find a clan…if I find what I…what I want, I will be honored to eventually pit them against you, Captain America."

"Looking forward to that, soldier, but first things first: we still need to help you get a handle on how much power you possess as the first Krogan-Hulk," Steve reminded Grunt.

"When do we start," Grunt asked, sounding like a kid who was excited for his first day at Disney World when he did.

"Right after you've gotten used to your new surroundings, and my team and I have all had a chance to catch our breaths after our most recent mission. Until then, I suggest you practice a few ways to control your anger, because that will be a key factor in controlling your power," Steve ordered.

Grunt seemed to become a little downtrodden by this news, but his excitement was quick to return in full afterwards and he was soon moving over to his now empty tank so that he could do as Cap had suggested. After Steve asked EDI to help Grunt in whatever way she could, while making sure that the Krogan-Hulk did not accidentally break something when he was startled by EDI's voice suddenly speaking up, he then left to file his own report on the matter and inform the rest of the team of their newest member, knowing already that some individuals were likely going to be rather nervous or just less than happy with his decision.

* * *

Steve was right in his belief that a lot of the ship's crew was going to be either nervous or really upset when he told everyone that Grunt would be joining the team, though the latter applied more to Miranda than anyone else, seeing as she was not really all too eager for the idea of releasing the Krogan-Hulk in the first place. Still, to some people, it seemed that Miranda was a bit more concerned about the fact that Steve had gone down and released Grunt by himself without anyone to watch his back than she was about the fact that he had done so at all, but if anyone mentioned that to her, Miranda would always shoot them a very withering glare that could have killed the most powerful beings alive a hundred times over and told them that they were imagining things. It actually surprised everyone a bit about how defensive she was on the topic, including Miranda herself, but she eventually just brushed it off as something that she would naturally feel when it came to being concerned about how it would affect their mission.

Aside from that though, everyone eventually seemed to accept that Grunt was going to be part of the team and just left the matter alone. It also did not hurt that Grunt did not really seem to come out of the cargo bay for a very long time aside from when Steve was showing him around the ship, but no one was willing to admit that for fear of their personal safety in case the Krogan-Hulk ended up taking offense to that. Now everyone was just hoping to try and stay on Grunt's good side, avoid freaking him out too much, and make sure that they did everything possible to not make him angry because they did not want to be on the receiving end of him when he unleashed his Hulk-enhanced strength, the mere thought of which was still sending shivers up everyone's spine.

At that moment, Steve was actually down in the hangar bay running the Krogan-Hulk through some of the intense training he had promised him, with a promise to Peter that he would get the web-head to eventually help out when he thought the time was right. Such a thing left Peter shaking in his web-themed tights, so much so that he did not even hear Joker's question when he had joined Peter, Garrus, and Jacob for lunch down in the mess hall. "Hey Pete, are you even listening to me," Joker asked when he noticed Peter was zoning out a little.

That was when Peter finally came out of his frightened, frozen state and realized that Joker was talking to him. "Sorry Joker. What were you saying," the amazing Spider-Man asked.

"I asked you if Cap collected stray cats as a kid or during his time in the Avengers, because we really needed a Krogan-Hulk. I just want to know before I thank Cap for dragging Grunt home," the pilot replied.

"I don't really know, seeing as I hadn't been born yet when Cap was a kid," Peter shrugged. "Although, considering how the Avengers would often take on guys like Vision, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch…"

That got a small round of laughter out of the four. A minute later though, all laughter turned to stunned, nervous quiet when they noticed Jack coming into the room to grab a tray of food for herself. It was not really due to the fact that any of them were still scared of her, at least not by very much, but it was more due to the fact that Jack almost never came out of her space for really anything until now. Sure it had not been that long since she had joined the team, but it had been long enough for everyone to know she was setting a pattern for herself. When she noticed the four staring at her, Jack had to scowl a little and ask, "What? You've never seen someone getting something to eat before or some other shit?"

"Uh no, just…surprised to see you up here at all," Peter quickly replied for everyone. "I mean, until now, everyone had thought that you would just keep getting meals brought down to you or something, and you don't really seem like the social-type, so…"

"Shut up," Jack warned. "So I got hungry while I was reading and decided to get away from the sounds of loud punching and roaring that was coming from the cargo bay so I could get some fucking food. Is there a problem with that?"

Everyone immediately shook their heads in the negative and then just watched Jack move to return to her space, each a bit grateful that Spider-Man had not said or done something that would have led her to kill them this time. At least, that's what it seemed like the case would be until Peter did something that had everyone suddenly wondering if he was incredibly brave or the galaxy's biggest idiot. "Hey, why don't you join us for a bit," Peter called out, getting the guys to all look at him like he had lost his mind while Jack just stopped in her tracks once he had offered.

After a very tense minute, Jack finally looked over her shoulder towards Peter and asked, "Why the fuck would I want to do that? I thought I made it clear that I don't make friends and I don't get all touchy-feely the last time you tried to 'talk' to me."

"Well I just…thought I'd offer, and it would be a good way to like…bond as teammates or something," Peter replied nervously. Honestly, he had hoped that Steve would take to bringing Jack and others like her out of their shells, but the super soldier had quickly shot that idea down when he insisted that everyone make an effort to do so.

Jack was planning on telling the web-head to just fuck off and leave her alone, but then she remembered how much the guy had annoyed her the last time he tried to make conversation with her, and she figured that he would not leave her alone until she at least tried to do so. Add in the fact that she knew that Captain America would not be okay with her killing any of the crew period, especially in the case of Spider-Man, and she finally just sighed and asked, "The cheerleader's not going to be joining in any time soon, is she?"

"Nah, Miranda actually ate a little while before Garrus got here," Jacob confirmed.

Jack just nodded in response to this and then turned back towards the table before sitting down with the group of guys, making sure to keep some distance between her and Jacob when she did so for obvious reasons. For a few moments afterwards, no one really said anything, mostly because none of them were really sure what to say for one reason or another, and to say that the silence was awkward or uncomfortable for them would be putting it very, very mildly. Eventually, Jack ended up being the one to break the silence and say, "So…are one of you going to say anything, or are you waiting for me to start a conversation, because that's not likely to happen."

"And yet you kind of just did," Joker muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately for the pilot, Jack had heard him, and she was quick to level a rather harsh glare as she snapped, "Hey, I don't need to hear that from some brittle bones guy, got that?"

"Aw crap, how'd you figure that out," Joker asked in disbelief, already suspecting a certain ship-board AI despite his asking.

"It's pretty obvious with the way you limp and given the fact that most people I've heard talking say that you're always sitting down somewhere, but mostly in your cushy pilot's seat in the cockpit."

Joker had to concede that point to the former convict, but at least one person at the table was still a bit confused by one thing. "Uh, real quick: what're you guys talking about," Peter asked.

It was at that point that Joker remembered that unlike Garrus, and probably Jacob and everyone else on the ship, Peter and Steve did not know about his condition, so he figured now was as good a time as any to shed some light on the matter. "Well, I've got Vrolik Syndrome, or brittle bones disease. The bones in my legs never developed properly and they're basically hollow, so too much force and they'll shatter. Even with crutches and my leg braces it's hard to get around. One wrong step and CRACK! It's very dramatic, but I've learned to manage."

"That's not going to be a problem for when you're piloting the ship, is it," Peter asked, immediately showing how concerned he was for his friend.

"You kidding? No way. I don't need to be standing up or moving my legs around very much if at all to pilot the ship, Spidey. Put the _Normandy_ in my hands, and I'll make her dance for you, just don't ask me to get up and dance unless you like the sound of snapping shin bones."

"I prefer the sound of snapping necks and spines, personally," Jack said with a small grin.

"That's…actually not all that surprising, to be honest," Garrus informed her.

"So…is this disease contagious or curable," Peter asked, hoping to stay on subject before anyone could say or do something that would lead Jack to start a fight.

"No, it's not contagious, so you can relax your webs," Jacob replied. "It's actually an extremely rare condition, and nobody knows exactly what causes it. As for treatments for it…well…"

"Relax, Jacob; it's cool. I've accepted the fact a long time ago," Joker assured the dark skinned man when he saw the unsure look that Jacob was sending towards him out of the corner of his eye. "The disease is treatable, but there's no cure. My case is actually classified as moderate to severe. I was born with over a dozen fractures; hip, thighs, ankles…my bones were already breaking in the womb. A hundred years ago, I wouldn't have survived past my first year, but luckily for me, the miracles of modern medical science have turned me into a productive member of society."

"And making sure that the universe was not robbed of your sparkling wit and personality in the process, right," Peter quipped in finish for the pilot, earning a laugh from Joker in response.

"Only those two would get along so well through a shared bad sense of humor," Garrus muttered to himself.

"Uh-oh Joker, I think someone's jealous," Peter teased his turian friend. "Don't worry, Garrus, you're still my favorite turian. I mean sure, you're the only turian I really know, at least on friendly terms and that hasn't continuously tried to kill me, and sure, you've got that whole obsessive addiction of always calibrating every gun you can get your hands on, but we're still buds." Garrus just playfully shoved Peter while once again insisting that his calibrating of multiple guns was not an addiction, much to everyone's laughing pleasure, including a small smirk of good humor from Jack, until Peter thought of something else to say on the matter. "You know, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that some of the specs for the Iron Man armor were released for medical purposes like for your disease, Joker, so why don't you use something like that to help you out?"

"Well sure, fancy leg armors are cool and all, but when I'm flying the ship, I need to really feel it as it moves, and I can't do that in those things. They're just too bulky and they kinda make me feel like I'm some kind of cyborg or something whenever I go walking around in them," Joker reasoned.

"Fair enough," Peter shrugged in acceptance, but he still made a silent promise to help Joker out with the problem.

With that little note dealt with, Garrus figured that they should try to at least try to get to know Jack, and so he turned to the crazy woman and asked, "So Jack, you've clearly been all over the galaxy while you were running from Cerberus. Got any interesting stories or memorable accomplishments from that time?"

"Oh, I've got plenty of stories that would really catch your interest in one way or another, not that you'd really care," Jack scoffed in retort, drawing the group's attention to her in an instant. "I've been through all that shit before, and no one really cares about that kind of thing unless they want something or it affects them."

"How do you know we're not being serious about this," Peter pointed out.

"I have eyes, and I have history. Everyone always backs off on that kind of thing as soon as they realize they're not the first and I'm immune to their help," Jack responded as shortly as possible.

"If I had a dime for every time I, myself, have heard that kind of thing from someone," Peter muttered to himself, not that anyone really heard him, before addressing Jack directly. "You know, you could probably give people like Rouge a run for their money when it comes to not letting people get too close for some reason."

"Who," Jack and Garrus both asked.

"Okay, the next chance we get, I'm getting both of you a copy of a human history book that specifically details people, places, and things from the Age of Marvels, along with several other copies for every other alien or person like you guys that we pick up later on down the line," the web head promised.

"Whatever you say, Bug-Freak," Jack shrugged.

Everyone decided to just leave it at that point, until Jacob asked, "So what kind of things did you do before you ended up in _Purgatory_ anyway? It couldn't have been just straight-up, random killing all the time."

"It wasn't, but it was usually involved in everything," Jack admitted. "I ran with gangs, wiped out some gangs, joined a cult, kept the haircut, and basically just learned how to survive and not be a victim."

"You were in a cult," Joker asked. "You don't seem the type."

"I was looking for answers. Drugs, sex, and going to a better place…yeah, right," Jack scoffed once again. "It was all about money. They wanted to shake some suckers down to fund their spread, and guess who their ace in the hole was? I doubt I need to tell you what I did when I found out."

No one would say that Jack was wrong about that, and that eventually led Garrus to ask, "Didn't you at least meet some good people?"

"No," Jack replied. "Everybody wants something, and because of that, everything is fair game."

"Tell that to this guy over here," Garrus argued as he jabbed a thumb in Spider-Man's direction.

Jack did not really pay much attention to that and decided that she would finally indulge the four in at least some small mentions of things she had gotten up to before _Purgatory_. "Here's one of the shorter lists of things I did before getting caught: murder, assault, kidnapping, drugs, stealing, arson…done it all, and that's the boring shit."

"And the stuff that isn't boring…" Peter prompted, though not really too eager for the answer.

"Piracy, theft of military craft, destruction of a space station, and vandalism. Heh, that was a good one," Jack replied with a small smirk of pride at the last bit.

"Wait, you destroyed a space station? That's a little hard for me to believe," Jacob argued, and instantly getting two nods of agreement afterwards.

"I believe it," Peter said, getting a few looks of incredulity in response. "What? I used to fight against a guy who dressed up in a giant rhino suit, a cackling madman on a glider who carried pumpkin-shaped bombs in a man-purse, a dude with four mechanical arms welded onto his back, alien symbiotes that tried to eat me, and guys who were like living sand, water, and electricity, and that's just from my own rouges gallery. You really think I'd have a hard time believing anything like that at this point?"

"Well I sure ain't saying it was easy," Jack added with a little retort to Jacob's disbelief. "Not everything is spur of the moment. Sometimes you gotta work to give people what they deserve. I had some people I hung out with for a while in an out-law colony; felt like they were like me. Guess that made us a nice target. Turians think they know something about a scorched earth response; fuck 'em."

"Ahem," Garrus coughed in response.

"What? I never said that it was anything personal towards you, Scar-Face."

"Uh real quick though, why'd you mention vandalism in that last bunch though," Peter inquired before things got any more heated between the two.

Jack had to chuckle a little in response to that question before she revealed, "That's what the hanar call it when you crash that space station into one of their moons and make a new crater. They _really_ liked that moon."

Everyone had to give nods and acknowledgements in response to that, as it did seem like something the hanar would do. At that point, Joker looked over at Jacob with a sly smirk and said, "Hey Jacob, I heard a rumor that you and Miranda were a thing once. Care to shed some light on that?"

Jacob just chuckled a little in response to that while muttering something about blabber-mouth recruits, before he answered the question. "It got a little close then it got really far apart, and the rest isn't really anyone's business, including Cap's."

"Fair enough," Spider-Man replied before Joker could say anything more on the matter. "That book is closed and the matter is dropped. But still, you got anyone special waiting for you back home?"

"Nah, I was an only child and I have no extended family. I never settled down because it didn't seem fair with this job. Can't miss what you never had, right," Jacob revealed.

"I wouldn't know," Peter replied in a rather somber tone that was not missed by anyone.

This actually led Garrus to smirk a little before asking, "Should we take it to mean that you want to go out into the galaxy to see if you can track down a certain, half-kree, half-human blonde first chance you get?"

"Sh-shut it, Garrus," Peter stuttered, feeling immensely glad that his mask was covering everything other than his mouth at the moment, since he was pretty sure that the heat that was rising to his face was likely a not-so-small blush. He was mostly wearing the mask because he wanted to be ready in case Jack or Grunt showed up like the former had just now, not because he did not trust them, but more because he was not really sure how ready he was to let one of them know what his real face looked like. Of course, his feeble protests did not really keep the group from laughing at his expense until Joker finally finished his meal and slowly rose to his feet so that he could return to the cockpit.

Once the pilot had left, Garrus glanced around at everyone who was left, knowing that they were all still technically off-duty at the moment, and asked, "So anyone up for a game of Poker until we have to get back to work?"

"If the web-head's playing, then no thanks. I'm pretty sure that he'll use that Spider-Sense of his to cheat," Jacob denied.

"For the love of," Peter muttered. "How many times do I have to say it? My Spider-Sense does not work that way! If it could help me cheat at Poker, then I'd have gone to Vegas and gotten rich a long time ago, or whatever place in the galaxy would be considered like Vegas now-a-days."

"It's true. He really can't use it like that," Garrus confirmed. "We played a few games when we were really bored back on Omega, and we both had to struggle quite a bit to win."

Hearing this seemed to be all the reassurance that Jacob needed before agreeing to join in the game, and after a minute of consideration, Jack finally shrugged and said, "Fine, deal me in. It might be nice to play a game where I won't have to scam everyone out of their money for once."

The three men exchanged a nervous glance between them at that remark for a few seconds, but quickly shook it off in the end so that Garrus could bring out a deck of cards to shuffle and then deal out to everyone, knowing that the upcoming game was going to be interesting, to say the very least.

* * *

About an hour later that same day, Steve was heading to one of the upper decks along with Grunt after finally finishing their training session to help the Krogan-Hulk with controlling and developing his gamma-based powers. Grunt had wanted to just return to the cargo bay so he could be on his own, and also partially because he could tell that everyone was afraid of him for reasons other than the usual ones that krogan were feared for, but Steve had insisted that Grunt at least join him for a quick bite while also using the chance to at least meet some members of the team that would be leading the charge against the Collectors. As the elevator slowly ascended up to the third deck of the ship, Steve glanced over at Grunt once again and remembered that Okeer had said that everything he had regarding the Collectors was now inside of Grunt, so he figured he might as well go out on a limb to see if there was any point in seeing if what Okeer had left his prototype could benefit them in their battles that were still to come.

"I know that Okeer gave you a lot of information along with a lot of things he gained from the Collectors, Grunt, so I can't help but wonder if he gave you any imprints about them that could help us in our mission," Steve finally said after another minute.

Grunt grumbled for a minute before he finally said, "I see blurry ships, guess work about strength, but nothing that could help pick a weak spot and tear. Okeer spent all his time on old hatreds, so whatever he had, it was used up when he made me."

Steve nodded in response to that, though the news was not what he had been hoping for, and then moved on to another topic. "So what were your thoughts on your training so far, at least the training that I've been giving you?"

"It's…a bit frustrating," Grunt admitted. "I feel as though I should embrace the fury and rage inside of me and unleash it all at once like many krogan do, but at the same time, I know that you've told me that doing so would be dangerous for everyone, including myself. I'm still not sure how this yoga stuff you've been having me do and calming techniques is supposed to help me control it."

"The real secret to controlling a Hulk's power is that you're always angry, but you only let it all out when the situation really calls for it. Learning how to keep a calm mind and cool your jets a little can help with that and make everything easier for you," Steve clarified for the Krogan-Hulk. Grunt just nodded in response to this, even though Steve could tell that the tank-bred krogan did not really understand everything that was just told him, but it was still clear that some of the super soldier's words were getting through to Grunt, so he left it at that just as the elevator came to a stop at their destination.

What they did not expect to hear upon arriving on the crew deck was the sounds of very loud protests from a certain web-head, and when the two came around the corner, they found themselves a bit more confused at the sight of Jacob and Jack sitting at the table with wide, humorous smiles on their faces, a triumphant smirk on Garrus' face, and Spider-Man standing well away from the turian as though he were afraid Garrus was going to jump him at any second while holding his arms crossed in denial. "Oh no, nonononono, nuh-uh, forget it! I'm not doing that, and you can't make me," Spider-Man insisted.

"Hey, a deal's a deal, Peter, and you agreed to it, so suck it up and follow through," Garrus remarked, his tone oozing with a prideful victory that one would find when they manage to find a way to get back at a friend for a joke said friend had pulled on them.

Spider-Man continued to refuse to do as Garrus was requesting, which only seemed to make Jacob and Jack smile even more, until finally, the web-head's protests drew Miranda out of her cabin to see what was going on. When she saw Steve and Grunt standing off to the side, she figured that she might as well get some answers from someone who was a least a little saner than the four in the middle of the room, and immediately made her way over to the captain. "What in the galaxy is going on out here," Miranda asked once she had reached the two.

"I'm actually not sure myself. We just came in, same as you," Steve replied to his ship's XO before he turned to the two who were seated at the table, at which point he noticed that a deck of cards was scattered about on the table, suggesting that they had likely been in the middle of a game with the other two before this had happened. "Would one of you care to explain?"

"We'd been playing a few, friendly rounds of Poker until the last hand came down to Garrus and Spidey, at which point our resident sniper decided to up the stakes," Jacob explained for the new arrivals. "If Spidey won, Garrus would give up his, I quote, 'addiction to calibrating every gun in sight more than necessary for a full day', but if Garrus won, then Spidey had to sing a song of Garrus' choosing so long as it was possible for Peter to sing it and he actually knew the song."

"That last option doesn't seem so bad," Grunt said, drawing everyone's attention to him for a minute, almost as though no one had registered his presence until now.

After staring at the newest heavy hitter of the team for another minute, Jack finally broke stunned silence and clarified, "Well, Bug-Freak was apparently thinking the same thing until he lost the hand and learned what the song Garrus had in mind was."

At that point, Spider-Man sighed and said, "Seriously, first off, spiders are not bugs, they're arachnids."

"Nobody cares," just about everyone in the room other than Cap, Grunt, and Miranda told Peter.

Spidey just rolled his eyes behind his mask at that, and then continued, "Second off, Jack, I told you that you can just call me Peter, so do you really have to keep calling me Bug-Freak?"

"Just until I think of something better to call you," Jack admitted. "Besides, Peter just seems like too much of a fucking normal name, and given all the shit that you have done and can do, it just doesn't seem right."

"Sometimes we need to come down from all the excitement and just be like another person for a while. There's nothing wrong with that," Steve told Jack in Peter's defense. At the same time, he was actually rather impressed with the web-head. He had not really expected Parker to tell Jack his real name for a long time, and yet, just now, he learned that Peter had done so rather recently. It may have most likely just been his first name, but it was still proof that Spidey was willing to trust the other members of the team enough to give them that much.

Before Jack could say anything in retort to Steve's point, Miranda decided to bring the conversation back on track for the moment, and asked, "Just what song is it that he had proposed?"

"It's a song from one of the earliest versions of that Spider-Man musical on Earth, which has also become known as one of Spidey's unofficial theme songs," Jacob chuckled in response.

Steve found himself searching his memory for a minute, since he remembered going to see that particular musical with some of the other Avengers just for laughs, and when he finally realized what song the dark-skinned man was referring to, he could not help but start to chuckle a little himself at the realization. "Oh, you mean the song 'I am Spider-Man', huh," Steve asked.

"Yes, that one! That horrible, horrible one," Spider-Man stated in an overdramatic tone. "Cap, please tell them to not make me do this! I have been down that musical road before, and I do _not_ want to do it again! Not only that, but that musical was embarrassing enough back in the day as it was, so the fact that it's even still around really doesn't help me feel better about this."

Steve looked like he was thinking about it for a minute, making everyone wonder if he was really going to deny them the joy of hearing Spider-Man perform the song in question, until the super soldier's face finally broke into a grin as he said, "Like Garrus said, a deal's a deal, Peter, and it does sound like you agreed without any problem, so might as well get it over with so that they'll stop bugging you."

Seeing that he had was not going to get any help in this, Peter finally slumped a little in defeat, until he suddenly remembered something that made him perk up. "Wait, it wouldn't be any good if I'm not singing it to the music of the song, so I guess I won't be able to follow through. Oh well, too bad."

"Not so fast; I've got that covered," Garrus suddenly revealed as he brought up his omni-tool and started tapping a few keys on the device. A second later, a song that only Steve and Peter most easily recognized started playing, and while the super soldier was doing his best to suppress a smile and hide his laughter, the web-head had slumped in defeat once again.

"You went and found the karaoke version of the song just for an occasion like this a long time ago, didn't you," Peter asked his turian friend.

"Oh yeah, and with this, I'll finally have something of real leverage over you," Garrus grinned through his mandibles as he started setting the song to play the beginning of the song on repeat until the web-head finally started to sing.

"Okay, okay, fine. You win," Peter finally sighed as he moved to where he could do as Garrus requested he do.

"And remember, it can't just be singing, you have to perform as much of the dance with it as you can too," Garrus reminded Peter.

"Alright, I'm doing it," Peter grumbled before he finally started, while everyone else just found a seat to watch with some variety of a smile on their faces, including Miranda, who had the barest hint of a smirk.

 _"I will save you all by crawling up your wall, and spinning, spinning you a web that will not let you fall. I'm Spider-Man! I spider am. I am Spider-Man,"_ Peter sang as he performed a small little dance number that was suitable for his current surroundings.

Everyone was doing their best to hold their laughter in after hearing that first bit of the song, although Grunt ended up failing and letting out a small chuckle in response. Miranda even found herself smirking a little in response to this, and eventually felt sorry that she was not recording this so that she could use it as a way to keep Peter from talking so much and annoying her. At least, those were her thoughts until she realized that she had slowly inched her way closer to Cap. Granted she had actually sat down next to him right from the start, but the fact that she was getting closer to him at all was what had really surprised her. She figured that it did not really matter that much and just turned her attention back to the impromptu show that was unfolding before them all.

 _"You don't have to ask, the man behind this mask will answer, answer every call. I'm here to save you all. I'm Spider-Man! I spider am. I am Spider-Man! I'm Spider-Man evildoer, and you just got bit!"_

That was when the song ended, much to Peter's slight relief, and everyone instantly burst out into either cheers or laughter as a result, turning the web-head's relief into full-blown embarrassment. "Oh come on," Peter whined. "It wasn't that funny. It's cheesy, makes me say stuff that I have never once said in my life, and stop laughing already! This isn't funny!"

"Sorry Peter, but this actually is pretty funny," Cap corrected as he struggled to get his laughter under control.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Star Spangled Man with a plan," Spider-Man grumbled in retort, immediately turning the tables on Steve when he was reminded of that particular stage show he had performed back in the forties before he finally joined the real fight on the front lines of World War II. It did nothing to stop the others from continuing to laugh though, which led Spider-Man to grumble a little more, even going so far as to mutter something about how everyone always picked him for his musical while the Avengers show was supposedly much better or something.

"Oh man! I suddenly find myself wanting a piece of whatever shit the guy who wrote that was smoking," Jack cackled.

"Heh, heh, heh. That was definitely funny," Grunt said as he finally started to stop laughing.

"Hey, let's have an encore," Garrus suggested.

"No way! One is enough for this spider, thank you very much," Peter immediately shouted.

"Aw, be nice to Kumo; he's already going to have a lot to deal with after that performance for a while, anyway," Kasumi cooed as she finally revealed herself to be sitting with the group in a flash of light.

"And why is that, Kasumi," Steve inquired after making sure that Grunt would not try to jump the master thief.

"Well…I _may_ have recorded his performance, and that recording _may_ already have a few thousand hits and likes on the extranet," Kasumi admitted with a grin before she disappeared from view before Peter could charge at her.

"Kasumi, you'd better hope I don't find you again for a long time," Peter promised the kleptomaniac.

"Alright, everyone, I think we've all done enough to embarrass Spider-Man's fragile ego, so let's carry on," Steve eventually said in defense of his old friend once he finally managed to regain control of his laughter.

"Sure, now you want to help me," Peter grumbled.

"Well, as much fun as this has been, I should probably be getting back to work. That main gun isn't going to properly calibrate itself," Garrus stated. "Plus, I'm waiting to hear back from one of my contacts on Illium about getting us a pair of Thanix Cannons."

"Is that a good thing," Steve asked.

"Oh yeah," Garrus replied with an enthusiastic grin. "Thanix Cannons were actually designed using salvaged remains of the Reaper, Sovereign, and they pack one hell of punch in ship-to-ship combat."

Steve took all of that new information into consideration before he finally stated, "Let me know when you hear something, and I'll have us set course for Illium so that we can have them installed into the ship."

Garrus immediately nodded in reply before he walked off and disappeared behind the door to the main battery, smirking at the glare Peter was throwing at him all the while. Once Garrus had left, Peter decided to take his leave as well, saying that he wanted to help Mordin with the work on the counter measure to the Collector seeker swarms, since the salarian professor had told the web-head that he was close to a breakthrough. "Tell Mordin to let me know the minute you two have something."

"Will do, Cap," Peter replied with a two-figured salute before he too, disappeared from view.

"I guess I should get back to work as well. The ground team's armaments aren't going to prep and maintain themselves after all," Jacob remarked as he got up and left as well.

At that point, Steve, Miranda, Jack, and Grunt were the only ones left in the room, but before the two women could move to depart as well, Steve called out for them to wait a moment, sat down at the table, and then indicated the abandoned playing cards. "Either of you two care to play a few hands," Steve asked. Miranda and Jack both quirked an eyebrow at the super soldier, clearly asking if he had forgotten why it would be a bad idea for the two of them to be in the same room when not on a mission, and Steve simply said, "Just think of this as a team-building exercise, and a way for the two of you to develop a more acceptable foundation of trust. I'd rather not take the chance of one of you two deciding that you want to kill the other while we're in the middle of a mission, let alone a battle, so…"

Both women could understand what Steve was trying to do, and while they did not really want to do it, they eventually realized that Steve was not going to let them say no, so they eventually just sat down and watched as Steve gathered up the cards and started to shuffle the deck. When Grunt sat down at the table as well with a large tray of food, Steve looked over and offered to deal the Krogan-Hulk in as well, getting a confused look from said krogan after he did. "I thought I was supposed to come up here to eat," Grunt reminded Steve.

"Yes, but you were also coming up here to build up your relations with some of the other members of the team, and this will help you do that," Steve pointed out. "Plus, this game can help you learn how to manage your gamma powers by teaching you how to keep calm under pressure and how to know when someone's bluffing."

Grunt wanted to argue the point, but since Steve had already started dealing out the cards to everyone, including him, he too found himself acknowledging that this was going to be a losing battle, so he just gave a small grunt in response and gathered up his cards while chomping down on his first helping of his food pile. After that point, the only sound that could be heard other than Grunt's loud eating was from whenever one of the players would place a bet or make any other kind of play in the game, and it was rather slow-going despite who was currently playing, which only made the silence a bit awkward and tense for the group. Eventually, Steve cast a glance around the table at the others, silently prompting them to start a conversation of some type, and when his gaze landed on her, Miranda found that she could not help but be the one to finally say something. "So, how's training our newest recruit going," Miranda asked.

It was not quite what Steve had been hoping for, but he would take it regardless. "Grunt's been doing alright so far. I'm planning on having Spidey help out with the next round of training seeing as he's had quite a bit of experience with fighting guys that are bigger and stronger than him in some way," Steve replied.

No one was able to argue that point, mostly because they really could not do so, or even say anything in response to it because Grunt had suddenly started laughing a little for some reason that was beyond the other three. When he saw that his current company was looking at him strangely, Grunt could only shrug and say, "Sorry, but for some reason whenever I hear that little human's name I feel like I should laugh, but it's not because of what we just saw. There's just something inside of me that tells me I should find him funny for some weird reason."

"Yeah, that is crazy," Jack commented, a feeling that Miranda could only nod in agreement with.

"Well the Hulk did find Spider-Man to be funny a few times, and he was one of the few heroes that the Hulk really got along with easiest without having to start a fight with him or anything like that," Steve explained.

"What the shit does that have to do with anything," Jack asked.

"While we've been training, Grunt and I discovered that the Hulk inside of him has allowed him to be a bit more familiar with certain things from the Age of Marvels, which is also part of the reason why he's so willing to trust me right now."

"The other part is because he's shown that he's a strong warrior who's promised that we would fight strong enemies," Grunt added.

The two women could only nod in response to that before they each placed another bet into the pile for their current hands. Once the captain and Krogan-Hulk had done the same, with the latter immediately turning back to his meal after putting his chips in, Miranda then asked, "So how have you been adjusting to your new surroundings, Grunt?"

"Surprised you'd really care to ask something like that, Cheerleader," Jack partly growled, drawing a glare from Miranda in response.

"But she does bring up a good point," Steve cut in before the two could start a fight. "We do need to make sure your acclimatizing well, Grunt."

"Well…the cargo hold is too open, not enough cover and its armor is limited. Warlord Granth would target there to scatter heavy cargo then focus on engines," Grunt replied. Seeing that he was getting weird looks again, Grunt figured he should probably explain his reasoning for saying such things. "That's what tank imprints show about human ships. It's how I learned from the tank: old pictures where memory is. Like holding a book for a child and saying 'just remember this' picture after picture. It's no help with finding a reason to care."

"Yeah, I can kinda relate to that," Jack mused in response. "I had to spend quite a while on the run before I found a reason to really care about anything, including myself. I guess you could say that's part of the reason why I once joined a cult."

" _You_ were in a cult," Miranda asked in honest astonishment. She had read the former convict's psych profile, as well as what Cerberus had on Jack's history that she could get her hands on, but the Cerberus loyalist had not heard anything about that. "I find that a little hard to believe seeing what that usually entails."

"I was looking for answers," Jack stated, repeating what she had said to the boys from earlier and only that. When the others noted how she was not going to say anymore on the matter, they let it drop and turned their attention back to Grunt, with the supposed psycho taking the lead on questions this time. "So, what other human imprints have you got up in that tank-bred, Krogan-Hulk head of yours?"

Grunt gave an almost feral grin when he answered that question. "Less than a finger deep to sever an average human's spine. You're species is soft with the exception of a few mutants. Salarians, asari, all soft; quarians, not so much; Shi'ar, slightly harder; Kree are tricky to get at with their energy powers and weird weapons; turians…you have to work the blade I guess. Don't see much point to it though." When he realized what he had said at the end there, Grunt chuckled a little as he said, "Heh, much point…heh…ah, never mind."

"As long as you don't take lessons in humor from Joker or Spider-Man, I don't think any of us will mind that much," Miranda remarked.

"Trust me, Peter would probably say that was worse than one of his jokes," Steve commented.

"And who else is he going to ask for lessons in humor from, Cheerleader? You," Jack inquired with a light scowl.

"No, but I am curious if anything really drives our new colleague. Not only is he as genetically krogan as he could get, but he's also as genetically close to the Hulk as anyone has gotten to in a century since the Age of Marvels ended," Miranda retorted with a small scowl of her own in return to Jack's.

"I see suffering, the dead, and I think…weak," Grunt revealed, drawing everyone's attention to him once again when they picked up on a slight hint of what sounded like remorse. "I'm supposed to be strong; my guts were grown from thousands more worthy and then mixed with the energy that was used to create an Earth warrior who was even more worthy than them. The dead were weak. If they were strong, I wouldn't be needed. I don't know why Okeer started teaching…When he turned on the tank the first time, I screamed. Weak, pitiful…"

"You may have started small, but that was just the first step in becoming who you are now," Steve reassured the newest member of the Hulk legacy. "More importantly, try not to think of the dead as weak, because it would be considered a sign of disrespect to them. Many of them fought to the very end in their own ways, and that's what makes them truly strong."

"Hmm…I suppose that you have a point," Grunt admitted after thinking over Steve's words for a minute. "Still, I'm built for strength, but I didn't earn it. I just…am. Those dead were strong enough to try even if they lost. The perfect krogan or even a Krogan-Hulk as everyone keeps calling me, ignoring what made me…no strength in that."

"Well with that kind of thought process in mind, it could also be argued that the Hulk didn't really earn his strength either," Steve stated. "It was given to him so that he could survive something that should've killed him, and he used it to make a difference despite how often people were scared of him or how much he was hounded. That didn't make him strong, it made him something better. In my day, there was actually a name for people like that: hero."

Grunt allowed these words to process through his mind for a minute, until he finally grinned a little and decided, "Then I think I should take another look at the krogan so I can find a reason to care. Once I've done that, I'll take a look at the Hulks of your world so I can find a reason to be one of those people and show that I too am worthy of that power."

Steve smiled at Grunt's newest resolution and then returned to the game, but at that point, he and Grunt were the only two really focusing that much on either that or eating, as their two female companions were still processing the words that Captain America had said. For Jack, they made her wonder if she could possibly be anything like those people that Steve would call a hero despite what she had done. It was no secret to her that the only reason that she was even on this ship or the team was because she was a powerful biotic, and therefore to be considered as either an asset or another tool. Jack was used to that kind of thinking, and it was not like she planned to stick around forever, but still, a small part of her could not help but wonder if there was even a chance she could be that kind of person some day.

Miranda on the other hand was also letting Steve's words run through her mind, contemplating on whether or not they could be applied to everyone on this crew and on whether or not it would help her in swaying Captain America to fully trust Cerberus. At the same time though, another thought running through her head was the question of why she let a simple look from Steve prompt her to start the conversation in the first place. No one had ever been able to do that to her, at least not outside of a battlefield where words were not always helpful in communicating a plan between allies, but just now, Steve had managed to get her to start making casual conversation just with a glance. Add that in with the fact that she seemed to easily seat herself next to Steve before slowly edging closer to him when Spider-Man had given that little performance earlier, and Miranda could not help but wonder if she was starting to let her barriers down a little in regards to the super soldier. What was even more shocking was that she did not really seem to mind all that much, so long as it was really just with Steve. At that point, she found herself freezing for a second, only to resume what she was doing before anyone noticed, when another thought occurred to her. _When did I start thinking of him as Steve instead of Rogers or even Cap?_

* * *

Almost a week had passed since the team had recruited Grunt into their ranks, and in that time, Steve and Peter had given the Krogan-Hulk quite a few different lessons in harnessing the krogan's gamma powers. Sometimes, the lessons seemed to go over rather well for Grunt, but a great majority of the time proved to be quite a challenge for both student and teachers, particularly when it came to helping Grunt learn to restrain his anger and krogan bloodlust, as both were natural parts of the krogan. The fact that Grunt's bloodlust made his Hulk powers even stronger than any of the past Hulk's strength had become when they were extremely angry did not really help very much, but thankfully, the two Avengers-out-of-time were able to get Grunt to cool down before anyone or anything on the ship was seriously damaged, including Grunt.

Aside from that, a majority of the training actually involved Grunt sparring with either Captain America or Spider-Man, with the latter of the two heroes making sure he was always wearing his armor before starting even one round against the Krogan-Hulk. Eventually, those sparring matches gained a few observers among the crew, be it those who were off-duty or those who were currently in the hangar bay at that point in time, until one day, the sparring practice had turned into a full-blown fight club where everyone was taking a chance in the sparring ring to have a friendly match to keep their skills sharp or just got into the ring so that they could work out their grievances towards a crewmate. Even most of the ground team had decided to take part in at least watching the fights, but the only members of the team who did not actually get into the ring for a match were Jack and Miranda, which was rather surprising, since everyone figured the two would be more than eager to face off with each other given how often the two would clash when they so much as passed each other in a corridor, and some had actually been hoping to see Jack and Spider-Man settle their fight from _Purgatory_.

Peter was not complaining about Jack not calling him out into the ring for a rematch, and at the moment, he was actually helping Grunt gear up for a match against Garrus after the turian sniper had decided to test their newest krogan teammate's skills for himself. Peter's main way of helping Grunt to prepare for the match did not involve some special strategies or fighting moves though, not that any of Peter's best moves would really help Grunt that much, seeing as the web-head's moves were not suited for someone of Grunt's size and stature, but instead, it involved what Peter thought to be one of the most important aspects of battle for someone like Grunt. "How exactly is a battle cry going to help me in a fight," Grunt asked Spider-Man the minute that the web-head revealed the tactic.

"Because, an awesome battle cry can strike fear into your enemies, especially when it's an awesome battle cry of a big, strong powerhouse like you," Peter explained. Part of him had actually suggested it to Grunt as a way of messing with the tank-bred krogan, but another part of the web-head honestly thought that Grunt could use his own battle cry when going into battle.

Luckily for Peter, Grunt seemed to be hanging onto every word he was saying the minute that the web-head suggested using a battle cry. "Does that tactic truly work," Grunt asked in awe.

Peter was glad that Grunt could not see his face at the moment, because the large, mischievous grin on his face would have been a dead give-away to the fact that he was going to have so much fun with this. "Oh yeah; bad guys back home during the Age of Marvels would always run whenever they heard Hulk shouting 'Hulk smash!' or when Thor would shout things like 'For Asgard!' and the like. Plus it gives you a real rush. I wouldn't really know myself of course, since I don't actually have a battle cry, but, come on; what would actually be a cool battle cry for someone like Spider-Man, ya know?"

Grunt had not really noted anything Peter had said after he mentioned how a battle cry would give you a real rush, as he was too busy sporting a shit-eating grin as he chuckled in excitement and entered the ring. The minute that Cap had finished explaining the rules for the fight and signaled for the combatants to start, the two were going at it with very little hesitation, and it was clear that while Grunt held an advantage in strength, Garrus held an advantage in the way of real-life experience and well-practiced skill, so the fight was actually rather evenly matched. At one point, Grunt made for a mad charge at Garrus and decided to use Peter's advice while doing so, which was proven when he suddenly shouted "GRUNT SMASH!"

Garrus had not been expecting such an outburst, and was easily knocked out of the ring as a result of letting his guard falter because of the suddenness behind it. Peter was extremely thankful that everyone cheering for Grunt's victory was so loud, because he was sure he would not have been able to stifle his laughter at all given how he had fallen onto his back while clutching his stomach after hearing Grunt shout out what he did. Everyone on the ground team was able to realize what Peter did as well, but most of them only gave a light chuckle or just smirked in good humor as a result, so Grunt did not even notice. Not that it would have mattered, because he simply helped Garrus back to his feet, nodded in recognition for a good fight, and then made his way back over to Peter with a frown on his face as he whined, "I didn't feel the rush."

By some miracle, Peter was able to school himself before Grunt had reached him, and just managed to hold his chuckles at bay long enough to say, "Well, maybe it was just too much like Hulk's to really feel like your own thing. Maybe we should keep experimenting until we find something that really works for you."

Grunt huffed in response to that, but he still had to nod to show that he was taking the idea into consideration, and he soon found himself sitting on the sidelines again as Jacob and Kasumi took to the ring for a match of their own, never noticing how Peter had started laughing again as soon as he was out of ear-shot. Steve had seen the exchange as well and felt as though he were going to start laughing almost as hard as Peter was at any minute until Miranda suddenly appeared next to him. Steve was going to make a small joke and ask if she was going to ask him for a match, but when he saw how serious the look on Miranda's face was, he knew that his XO had likely approached him with something important.

He was not let down in his suspicions, as the minute she saw she had his attention, Miranda said, "Captain, the Illusive Man wants a word with you. He says that he may have something of great significance regarding the Collectors that you should know about."

That definitely put an end to any humorous feelings that Steve had at that point, and he quickly nodded in reply as he told Miranda he would speak with the Illusive Man via the quantum entanglement communicator after this fight had ended. Miranda nodded in response to this and then quickly moved to return to her quarters so that she could prepare for the upcoming mission they would likely soon be facing, and once Jacob and Kasumi's match had reached a satisfactory end, Steve told everyone that they were done for the day and ordered everyone back to their stations, while making a small promise to do this again soon, much to everyone's excitement. Steve was happy to see that the crew had found a way to release some of the tension that their suicide mission had built up among them, but he knew that he could not focus on such things at the moment, and he then quickly made a beeline for the conference room so that he could see what the Illusive Man had for him.

* * *

Steve did not have to wait long for the communication channel to the Illusive Man to open up once the conference table had retracted into the floor and the lights had dimmed for the call, because mere seconds after the communications array had come online, he found himself starring at the Illusive Man's figure as he sat comfortably in his command chair before the window displaying a large, brilliant star once again. Seeing as this was now the third time he had seen the man seated in that exact same room, a small part of Steve could not help but wonder if the Illusive Man ever so much as left that chair for more than a conversation that required him to stand up at his full height, let alone the room, but such thoughts were not important right now, so he was easily able to put it to the back of his mind for the moment so that he could see what the leader of Cerberus had for him.

"Rogers, I think we have them," the Illusive Man stated as the opening of the conversation, showing Steve that the man did not waste any time before getting right to the matter at hand. "Horizon, one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems just went silent. If it isn't under attack, it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the countermeasure for the seeker swarms?"

"As far as I know, he hasn't yet, but Spider-Man has told me that the professor is close to a breakthrough," Steve revealed, making sure to refer to Peter by his codename instead of his real name. He knew that doing so was probably pointless since Miranda had likely told the Illusive Man already, but Steve felt it was better to err on the side of caution all the same.

The news that the legendary captain delivered did not seem to sit well with the Illusive Man, but he had quickly schooled his features and stated, "Let's hope he works well under pressure, and that Mister Parker can give all the assistance he'll need to finish his work." Steve's eyes narrowed just a bit when he heard the Illusive Man refer to Peter by his real name, confirming the super soldier's suspicions about whether or not Miranda had mentioned it to him in an earlier report. After watching the man take a drag from his cigarette without ending the call, Steve knew that there was still more that the mysterious leader wanted to say to him. "There's something else you should probably know, Captain," the Illusive Man finally continued. "A member of the original _Normandy_ 's team is currently stationed on Horizon: one Ashley Williams."

"Should that be considered a problem," Steve inquired, knowing that there had to be a reason why the Illusive Man would mention the fact.

"That's hard to say at the moment," the Illusive Man revealed. "She is a loyal Alliance soldier, and likely holds no love for Cerberus, so I wouldn't expect any warm feelings towards your team from her if she finds out that you're working with us."

Steve could only nod in response to that, but there was still something about that statement that caught his attention. "Why would an Alliance soldier be out in the Terminus System?"

"Officially, it's an outreach program to improve Alliance relations with the colonies, but they're up to something, and if they sent Chief Williams, it must be big. Perhaps you should take it up with her."

Steve knew that it was probably pointless trying to get anymore out of the Illusive Man on this matter, since there was no denying that if he knew anymore, he would not likely tell the super soldier until after Steve had learned about it himself. Knowing this also told Cap that there was really no time to try and pry the answer out of Cerberus' leader if the Collectors were attacking Horizon, but the thought of that made him pause for a minute when he thought of something else. "Don't you think it's a bit too much of a coincidence that the Collectors just happened to target a colony that one of the original _Normandy_ 's former crew is stationed at?"

"Yes, in fact I do find it to be a bit too much of a coincidence to be considered as such, but then again, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that the Collectors are interested in such a place," the Illusive Man stated, drawing a look of honest confusion from Steve in response. "If they're working for the Reapers, then the Collectors have likely taken an interest in the one human who had managed to defeat one of the Reapers."

"Commander Shepard," Steve filled in.

"Exactly, and since they can't target Shepard anymore, they may see targeting her as a somewhat satisfactory substitute for revenge on the commander."

"Don't you think we should at least alert the Alliance or the Citadel of the situation? They could send us reinforcements," Steve suggested.

"No, not until after you have investigated the situation yourself. If we call them now, they would just get in our way, but once you've determined the exact situation and have it under control, I'll send the message personally," the Illusive Man promised. He could tell that Steve was not too fond of such a plan, but in the end, the super soldier seemed to accept it all the same, at which point, the Illusive Man felt that he should let Steve know of something else. "There was one other thing you should probably know, Rogers: an old friend and teammate of yours is also currently stationed on Horizon; one who has survived more than any human could ever dream of surviving and living through."

Steve stared at the Illusive Man in curiosity for a minute, thinking over all of the people he had ever met in his life, both during World War II and during his time with the Avengers, until only one name ended up sticking out among the rest. "Logan."

"Yes, the Wolverine himself is on Horizon," the Illusive Man confirmed.

"Why," Steve asked.

"It's unknown to us at this time, but the fact that one of the X-Men's greatest leaders is currently on Horizon as well is even more of a sign that something big is happening on Horizon." The Illusive Man let that sit for a while before he gave Steve one final statement. "This is the most warning we've ever had, Rogers. We can't afford to waste it."

Steve did not like that the man was likely still hiding something from him, but there was no time to worry about such things now, so he simply nodded and said, "Send the coordinates and we'll head there at once." The Illusive Man nodded and sent the coordinates over with a wish of good luck before he closed the communication, the communications array shutting down on both ends once he had, and leaving Steve with one last thing to do. "Joker, set a course for Horizon. I've got to go see the professor."

 _"Aye-aye, Captain,"_ Joker responded over the comm. as Steve turned to head for Mordin's lab.

* * *

"You really think this is our best shot," Peter asked Mordin as the two watched one of the seeker insects buzz around in the containment device they had in the lab, sometimes banging against the glass in a futile attempt to get out.

"Very optimistic in chances of success. Nothing ever one hundred percent chance of certainty in science," Mordin easily replied. Before either of the two could say anymore, they both ended up turning towards the sound of the door to the lab opening just in time to see Captain America walking in with a grim look on his face. Peter was able to recognize that look easily as the one that he had often seen Cap wearing whenever they were about to face what would likely be a difficult situation that would require something very important, and as a result, it was not hard for Peter to guess why Steve was here right now.

Steve only glanced towards the seeker insect before he looked to the two scientists and proved Peter's suspicions to be true as he almost begged, "Tell me you two have something."

Mordin and Peter shared a quick look before the salarian of the two smiled brightly and nodded with a simple yes before they pulled up the schematics for the countermeasure they had developed while regaling Steve with the details of said countermeasure's capabilities. In all honesty, most of it went over Steve's head since he was not a scientist, but the fact that they had something was definitely good news. He just had to hope that it would not be the only good news they had today.

* * *

 ** _AN: So yeah, I left you all hanging at the end there with everyone being right on the verge of the mission to Horizon, but I hope I made it okay by mentioning that next chapter, everyone's favorite mutant hero is gonna be coming in for some action. That's right, Wolverine is coming next time! Now I know I said that this story would primarily be a mix between the MCU and the comic mainstream universe, but honestly, I didn't want Logan to be dead, so I just decided to ignore that little fact. Wolverine's the best he is at what he does and all that, after all._**

 ** _Next up, that little song that Spidey was singing, if you've seen the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon's first season, then you'd probably recognize it. I honestly thought that the song was alright, but still funny enough to be made fun of, so I just couldn't pass up the chance to throw that in here. Yeah, Spidey just can't seem to catch a break with people making fun of him in this story in some way, can he?_**

 ** _Speaking of Spidey, I basically drew the idea for Spider-Man helping Grunt discover a battle cry from another Mass Effect crossover I read once, and I just had to throw that in there. I mean really, between Cap and Spidey, which one do you think is more likely to try and help Grunt think of a battle cry that would eventually lead to his whole "I am krogan!" line, or rather, this story's iteration of it?_**

 ** _While we're on the subject of Grunt, I hope everyone's satisfied with his introduction onto the team, his first chat with Cap, and all the other conversations that took place here, because let's face it, that was practically a driving factor for this chapter of the story._**

 ** _Moving on, next time we'll be heading for Horizon, and that will lead us to an encounter from Mass Effect that we all know quite well, along with an extra one involving Wolverine, so there's a good chance I may post this story's next update sometime soon. Then again, I think the chances of posting future updates for this story pretty soon a pretty high, period, so I'll let you get Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Horizon has been attacked by the Collectors, and the_** **Normandy _team is quick to end up right in the middle of the action as they come face-to-face with their enemy at last. A hard struggle lies ahead for the team, along with an inevitable encounter with two familiar faces that will stir up quite a few questions, concerns, and feelings in the whole team. Can the team make any difference, and what will happen when they meet up with Ashley and Logan? Find out next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	9. Danger on Horizon

_**AN: Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and say that I did in fact expect this chapter to take a long time to finish, and yet it still ended up taking at least a week longer than I had initially planned to finish. Now, I had intended to for this to be done a week ago, but there are two good reasons why it did not get done by that time. The first reason is...I'm ashamed to admit that I was distracted by video games, one of which being Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 for PS4. Shame on me. The second, and actually more important reason is that, hello! This is the big mission to Horizon, the midway point of ME2, and I'm giving it a MARVEL treatment, so of course I'm gonna have to do a bit to really get it done right.**_

 ** _Joker: Well hey, at least you got it done, despite a certain AI constantly annoying us all._**

 ** _AN: Normally I'd argue with that, but in this case, I'm gonna have to agree with you on the idea that EDI may be out to get us, Joker. That thing wanted to fire me over having the need to make sure I did a good job on this chapter!_**

 ** _EDI: I made no such signs of desiring to make any actions such as that, lyokoMARVELanime._**

 ** _AN: I know, I just like the way that Joker said that in ME2, and it's fun saying it that way too._**

 ** _Miranda: How about you just answer a reivew or two, or better yet, let everyone read the story?_**

 ** _AN: Spoilsport. Okay, so there's really only one or two reviews that I want to answer. First off, in what appears to be a continuation of the Krogan-Hulk debate with "HaywireEagle", you mentioned that one of the greatest things about the Hulk is his struggle for seeking understanding, control, and more, but if you think about it, that struggle also applies to Grunt as well. Being a tank-bred krogan alone makes him an outcast among his people, but that's even more so now that he's part Hulk. His bloodlust can also strengthen his power to levels that are dangerous even for a krogan, and you'll see just how much harder it is for him to control himself once he gets going with this chapter. Also, in regards to the whole thing with the genophage, Grunt does indeed still have it, but I'll go into more detail on that later in the story. It'll be at a point when Cap's talking with our favorite salarian professor, just so you know._**

 ** _The only other thing I can say is a thank you shout-out to "kival737101", because, dude, you've managed to help me solve a serious dilemma that I've had ever since the planning stages for this story. More on that later though, seeing as I've wasted enough of everyone's time with my yammering on about stuff most of you probably don't care about. Plot a course to the chapter!_**

 ** _Joker: Uh, shouldn't a certain merc with a mouth have shown up by..._**

 ** _AN: Weren't you listening? I said PLOT A COURSE TO THE CHAPTER! NOW!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Danger on Horizon**

If you were to ask the people who lived on the Terminus colony of Horizon, they would likely tell you that the colony in question was actually rather similar to how Eden Prime was before the geth had attacked it under Saren's orders with its vast, lush fields of grass, small yet still brilliant forests, and the fact that the sunsets would often seem like a work of art that you would only find in paintings of an art museum that was dedicated to the great artists gone by. The only thing that really set Horizon apart from Eden Prime was that most of the people who lived on Horizon did not hold the Systems Alliance in very high regard. In point of fact, most of the people who lived on Horizon had actually come there in the hopes of getting away from the Alliance, or at least as far away from it as possible. That is not to say that everyone outright hated everything and everyone connected with the Alliance, there were actually a few people who were willing to keep an open mind about humanity's main body of government, but there were still a few things that did not make it that much easier for them to deal with it every now and again.

One of those things would be the latest gift to the colony from the Alliance: a series of defensive towers that held a number of high-powered GARDIAN Lasers so that the colony would be protected from any hostile ships that would try to threaten them. The only problems with these towers was that the people had to build a massive underground generator just to get any of the towers powered up, and even then, the targeting system was revealed to be rather faulty. Naturally, a lot of people were upset about the fact that the Alliance gave them a giant gun that could not shoot straight, but many of them became even more upset by how the Alliance had responded to their request for fixing the problem. That response was to send out Operations Chief Ashley Williams, former member of the _Normandy SR-1_ , and Admiral Logan Howlet, better known as Wolverine, leader of the X-Men and their various divisions, and all of mutant kind in the Alliance.

The minute that the two had arrived, they found themselves becoming the easy targets for the people's distaste for the Alliance, much to Ashley's chagrin and Logan's very slight annoyance, but that did not deter them from trying to do their jobs as they quickly set to work. Of course, Ashley was the one who did most of the work in trying to fix the guns since Logan was not much of a tech expert, especially when it came to most of what was now considered as modern technology, but the feral mutant managed to find other ways to help out around the colony as best as he could, all the while thinking to himself that he should have had someone who had advanced intellect as a mutant power or just knew what they were doing come out here in his place. Then again, Logan was not complaining that much since it did seem that he was a bit more easily accepted by the few mutant citizens of Horizon, so that did make things a little easier, and then there was the matter of his current partner.

Logan had done quite a bit of research into Ashley when he received this assignment from the Alliance brass, along with hearing all the stories that had floated around, and that extended to both the woman in question and her family's history with the Alliance, including the story about her grandfather's role in the First Contact War of Shanxi. The fact that the woman was still sticking to her guns despite how her entire family was practically blacklisted in the military that they faithfully served, along with how she was not one to shy away when someone pissed her off, left quite an impression on Wolverine, a fact that he made known to her the moment they had a chance for a decent conversation, and which made Ashley gain a small blush in response when he had said so. Ashley Williams would never admit it, but she found a lot of people from the Age of Marvels to be something of a great inspiration to her, some more than others, so when Logan had complimented her in the way that he did, it took every ounce of training and restraint that she had to not freak out like an excited fan-girl.

At the moment though, Ashley was more irritated than anything else, a fact that she made no secret when she finally found the person in charge of the colony, or at least the only person who was willing to speak to her and Logan without any reservations. "Lilith, we've got a problem," Ashley informed the woman in question once she had found the dark haired woman.

"Still can't calibrate the targeting matrix," Lilith asked in a tone of voice that showed she had suspected that would be what the Alliance war hero would be talking about.

Ashley immediately nodded in response to that and immediately reminded Lilith, "Those defense towers are useless if we don't figure it out."

"Sorry Chief, but getting our comm. systems back online takes priority at the moment," Lilith reasoned with the loyal Alliance soldier, hoping that Ashley would understand that before something was started.

Thankfully, serving under Commander Shepard had helped Ashley learn how to calm down a little and not lash out needlessly when things were out of her control, so she took a deep, cleansing breath and then sighed, "Yeah, okay. Surprised people haven't tried to blame that one on us too."

"People out here don't trust the Alliance. It's nothing personal," Lilith reassured Ashley.

"Well unlike my current partner, I'm not really able to not take it personally," Ashley reminded Lilith, and that was when she spotted the X-Man in question as he was just making his way over from one of the trailers where the colony's main food supply was stored, showing he had just finished running a final check on said resource. Looking over Logan allowed Ashley to wonder if all X-Men were so insistent on always wearing their own, personal set of armor and uniform as opposed to the standard Alliance ones, but then again, considering that the X-Men were often considered a specialized group in the Alliance military, it probably would not have surprised her. Logan's suit was actually a dark blue that was extremely close to being black, with gold lining all along the outfit, forming an X on his chest, while blue gloves with greaves on the back of the hands for his claws were worn on his hands. After taking a minute to shake any thoughts about how hot Logan looked in his attire, Ashley eventually made her way over to her partner and said, "Hey Logan. Tell me you've got good news."

"Aside from the obvious stuff, everything checks out," Logan informed Ashley. "Although there are a few kids up here who might have an awakening x-gene, so I might have to come back up here later with a doctor to be sure and to test out there powers."

"You know that the parents are not going to be very fond of you taking their kid away if you find out that's true," Ashley reminded Logan.

"Relax darlin', this isn't my first rodeo, and besides, whether they come with me or not is always up to them," Logan reassured her while throwing in a disarming smile that could only be worn by someone like Wolverine. "Any word on the comm. systems?"

"Lilith said that they've made fixing it their top priority for the moment, but that does mean that we'll need to be here a little longer for getting the targeting matrix up." Logan had to huff a little in response to that, while a small look of apprehension found its way onto his face. This did not escape Ashley's notice, and it immediately prompted her to ask, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, Williams," Logan admitted. "Somethin' about this just doesn't sit right with me. Those guns are supposed to be state-of-the-art or somethin', and yet their targeting systems are flawed. Then shortly after we get sent out here to help fix the thing, the comm. systems suddenly go out. Call me paranoid due to how long mutants were hated, hunted, and all that jazz, but in my experience, that sort of thing never bodes well."

Ashley could see that this was really bothering Logan, and while she would not deny that she was getting a bad feeling about all of this as well, she did not want Logan to be so on edge because of it. She knew full well that Logan was not one to fly off the handle like he often did once upon a time in the Age of Marvels, but there were still signs that it could happen, and she could see some forming already. Hoping to distract him from that, but still feeling a bit unsure about what she was about to say, Ashley decided to just bite the bullet and broach a topic that she was sure that Logan would probably not enjoy talking about. "Do you think the rumors we've been hearing are true," Ashley finally asked.

That seemed to have the desired effect, as Logan's tense muscles seemed to relax a little as he shot her a look that almost made his next request unnecessary. "You're going to have to be more specific, Williams. We hear a lot of rumors floating around these days," Logan pointed out.

"I'm talking about the rumors that say that…that Captain America is alive, commanding a new _Normandy_ , and suspected to be working for Cerberus," Ashley clarified.

Logan seemed to tense up once again, but not in the same way that he had previously before he finally replied, "I don't know what to think about that, Ash. Honestly, part of me kind of hopes that Rogers isn't back from the dead. Hell, if anyone deserves a peaceful, undisturbed rest, it's him, but it would still be good to see him again after all these years. If he is back though and working for those sons-of-bitches in Cerberus, then knowing him, he's probably got a hell of a good reason. Honestly, until I actually see the guy and he tells me what's going on himself, I'm gonna consider most of those rumors to be as reliable as a rat's ass."

Ashley had to smile a little at Logan's way of phrasing his beliefs, while silently admitting that he had put her concerns at ease a little. Captain America had always been a big inspiration for many soldiers in the Alliance, so to hear that he could be working with Cerberus was something that really hurt that image of greatness that many had put him up to, including Ashley. Before she could ask another question though, Logan suddenly tensed up again and turned his gaze towards the sky while sniffing the air. "What is it," Ashley asked, knowing that this likely meant that Logan had picked up on something that had him concerned.

"We're about to have company," Logan growled as he continued sniffing the air.

"Can you tell what it is," Ashley asked as she started moving towards the edge of the colony.

"Not really," Logan admitted. "All I can tell you is that it's alien, but I don't recognize anything beyond that, and that's definitely all the more reason to be concerned."

A sudden outcry from Lilith drew the two out of their conversation and to the forefront of the crowd that had started gathering at the edge of the settlement. While Ashley drew her rifle to use the scope as a telescope, Logan elected to activate his suit's helmet, which extended up from the collar of said suit and revealed itself to resemble a sleek, modernized version his old, iconic mask, and used the sensors in the lenses to get a look at what was approaching. What they eventually saw was a massive ship approaching through what at first glance appeared to be a lightning storm, but the ship in question was like nothing either of them had ever seen, and that only spelled trouble to the two. A minute later, a large black cloud seemed to move towards the colony, and no one needed Logan's heightened sense of smell to tell them that it was not a cloud approaching them. A minute later, Ashley had started to open fire on the approaching object while Logan extended his claws for battle and the colony citizens started to back away.

"Get everyone to the safe house! We'll cover you," Ashley shouted to Lilith as she continued firing her assault rifle, and no one hesitated to argue with her for a second.

Eventually, the cloud that had been quickly approaching them was revealed to be what looked like a massive swarm of strange bugs, which made Logan mentally wish that Spider-Man was there right then for obvious reasons. Despite the two's efforts, the bugs were soon swarming all throughout the colony, but even so, Ashley continued firing while Logan slashed through any one of the insects that dared to get within arm's reach of him. At one point, Ashley had to pause in her firing to help Lilith to her feet again after the colonial had fallen to the ground, but she was soon letting a cry of pain when something suddenly struck her in the back of her neck.

"Williams, you alright," Logan shouted as he tore through another set of bugs while Ashley removed the offending object from her person, revealing it to be one of the odd and grotesque creatures that were now swarming the planet.

"Yeah; one of these damn things just bit me, but I think I'm alright," Ashley replied as she sneered at the insect-like thing and then tossed it aside. "Whatever these things are, we've got to…"

When Ashley did not finish her sentence, Logan was quick to look over and see that the operations chief had frozen in her tracks, and from the way she was slightly glowing, along with what she had said a minute ago, it did not require much thought to realize what had happened. After shouting one last time to everyone that was still close by to run for it, Logan let out a feral roar as he charged in and started slashing through every single bug that he could while doing his best to make sure none of them would to sink their pincers into him. At one point though, one of the insects managed to get through his guard, and Logan was immediately bitten by the creature. Unlike Ashley though, Logan did not freeze up after he pulled the offending creature off him, no doubt thanks to his healing factor and he just kept on going with what he was doing, though it was at a more sedated pace than before. This was what allowed another one of the bugs to get in close enough to sting him as well, followed by another, and another, and another still, until one last sting caused Logan to finally freeze up as well, forcing him to watch as the swarm descended further onto the colony while he could do nothing to stop it or whoever or whatever this swarm's masters were.

* * *

Though it was only a matter of hours until the _Normandy_ had finally arrived at Horizon, for some of the team, it felt like it had taken an eternity because of the one, overlying fact: they would more than likely find themselves facing off against the Collectors at last. This was not something any of them were taking all that lightly, seeing as they knew very little about the Collectors themselves, let alone anything regarding their tactics and weaponry, so when one added in the fact that these beings were likely to be working with the Reapers, it was easy to understand why every member of the team was on edge. Even Jack was a bit nervous about the mission going in, though she would deny it with every fiber of her being and, as she put it, smear the walls with anyone who said otherwise. The only one who did not show any signs of concern was Grunt, but they all chalked that up to the fact that he was a Krogan-Hulk and he had not really experienced much of the world outside his tank until now. When the team finally found themselves descending to Horizon from the _Normandy_ in a shuttle, that concern only spiked even more, and they were all doing everything they could to make sure they were ready for whatever happened down there in their own way, be it doing a final weapons check, running through some sort of mantra they had in their minds whenever they felt nervous about something, or whatever else you could think of them doing.

The only downside to everyone doing these exercises was that one teammate's way of coping with his nerves was to babble on and on about random things. "You know, it's not that I don't like flying around in these shuttles or anything, but I still have to ask, considering this is a century into Earth's future and all since I was last around, why don't we have teleporters yet," Spider-Man asked as he finished making sure his web-shooters were fully loaded and in top condition for the upcoming battles.

"What're you talking about? Earth has a reasonable number of mutants with teleporting powers, and the Kree and Shi'ar have had teleporting technology for years," Garrus reminded his old friend.

"Well yeah, but I mean why don't we have teleportation devices on the _Normandy_ , or really any other ships besides those," Peter clarified. "I mean, it's not like it would be impossible to make the things, so why haven't I ever seen anything fitting of the old 'Beam us up Scotty' bit?"

"The old what bit," Grunt asked in confusion with matching confused looks quickly finding their ways onto the faces of Garrus, Jack, and Mordin.

"Seriously? 'Beam me up Scotty'…you know, from Star Trek," Peter clarified, only to get blank looks from the four in response. "Oh my god, please tell me that Star Trek is still around!"

"It is," Jacob informed the web-head. "It's just not really viewed by anyone who doesn't originate from Earth if at all anymore. Same goes for franchises like Star Wars."

"WHAT?! You've gotta be kidding me," Spider-Man exclaimed in what sounded like outrage mixed with horror. "Cap, when this is over and we get another moment of free time, we need to have a Star Trek marathon or a movie night featuring movies from said franchise! These guys need to be educated in the awesome that is the voyages of the starship _Enterprise_."

"If you say so, Peter," Steve nodded in response. He did not really get into either sci-fi series himself, so he really did not think he had a place to argue the point with the web-head, unlike certain other Avengers who would have, and at the moment, Steve was really more concerned about the mission ahead than he was about how humanity's pop culture had spread throughout the cosmos.

From where she was sitting, Miranda could not help but gaze in slight awe at how well Steve seemed to be handling Spider-Man's irritating, continuous babble, until she eventually managed to remind herself that it was more than likely because Steve had dealt with Spidey for years, long before Cerberus had revived him, or even before the Alliance was even formed. When she realized she was staring though, Miranda immediately pulled her gaze away from the super soldier, hoping no one had noticed. When she did, she just barely managed to suppress a groan at the fact that it had ended up landing on Peter, but her irritation with Peter seemed to lessen a little when she started to notice a few things seemed a bit off about him, all of which were easily indicating how nervous he was. Now this was not because Miranda had taken some time to get to know Peter or anything, but she had read over what little bit of information that was able to be used in compiling a psych profile for him, and she was also able to easily pick up on some of the most common signs of agitation and nervousness after years of study and her own personal experiences. All this was what allowed her to realize that the only reason that Peter was babbling so much was because he was indeed nervous about their mission, and he was doing his best to distract himself from thinking about it by talking a lot. Looking around though allowed Miranda to see something else as well: Peter's constant chattering also seemed to be helping some of the others relax or at least forget about their own unease going into the mission. For some, such as Jack, it was clearly just driving a bit of agitation from the mission and onto him, but that was still better than having everyone too greatly worried about the dangerous they were about to face.

Seeing this made Miranda think that she was beginning to understand a few of the other reasons that Steve had wanted to have Spider-Man on the team, and she made a small note to thank him for what he was doing right now after this was over, assuming they all survived, even if he did not realize he was doing it. Once she had done so, she returned her thoughts to the matter that was quickly approaching them, and it was a good thing she had, because no sooner had she done so that the shuttle gave the tell-tale lurch to indicate that they had landed at their destination, and everyone was quickly moving from their positions aboard the shuttle towards the door as it opened up. Once everyone was out of the shuttle and the small vessel had lifted off to return to the ship, the group took a moment to look around at the colony and was soon freezing in shock at what their eyes were met with.

Not too far from where they had landed was a massive, strangely shaped ship, while what seemed to be storm clouds loomed over the colony, and after Garrus and Peter had used their respective tools for viewing things at a distance, they were able to confirm that the large, insect-like beings that were slowly making their way around the settlement were the Collectors themselves, and each one seemed to be moving one or two pods that were large enough to hold a person inside of them. This was a clear indication that they had landed while the Collectors were still in the midst of abducting the colonists, and since that was the case, it immediately told Captain America that there was still a likely chance that they could save the people who had already been taken aboard the ship, while also stopping the alien beings from taking any more of the colonists. Of course, that was still a ways off at the moment, since they still needed to reach the ship and breach its defenses, and that was all the more reason why Steve was already formulating a plan of attack in his mind.

"Alright, clearly the Collectors haven't finished with this colony yet, but there's no telling how much longer it will be until they are, so that means that we have a limited amount of time to get the answers that we're here for along with doing whatever we can to help the people in this colony," Steve informed the entire team, with each member hanging on his every word. "If we want to get this job done right, then it may be best for us to split into two teams: an assault team to keep the Collectors' attention and a stealth team to gather the Intel needed and help any colonists that they can. Both groups will be responsible for gathering intelligence, but the primary purpose of the assault team will be to keep the Collectors attention on them while the stealth team does their job. Furthermore, if the stealth team encounters any colonists who haven't already been taken, then they'll have to move them to a safe location or a position that will be out of the enemy's notice."

"I'm not sure that would even be possible," Miranda interrupted. "We've all seen how thorough the Collectors are, so attempting to hide any of their targets might be futile."

"Maybe, but this is the first time that a team has been able to respond while they're in the final stages of their operation, so if it is possible, then we should at least try," Cap reminded his XO. "Any other questions?" When no one said anything in response, Steve moved on to team assignments. "Alright, Jack, Grunt, Mordin, and Jacob, you're with me on the assault team. Miranda, you'll be leading Kasumi, Spider-Man, and Garrus as the stealth team."

"You sure you wanna trust cheerleader with the lives of your buddies, Boy Scout," Jack inquired.

"As much as I'd hate to admit it, I'm actually as surprised as Jack is about your decision," Miranda revealed. "I was under the impression you didn't fully trust me."

Steve just looked at Miranda for a minute before he finally smirked a little and said, "I never said that I don't trust you, Miranda, just the organization that you're so loyal to, but you as a person, as Miranda Lawson, I do trust, and I'm putting a lot of faith in that trust to hope that you'll keep your team alive."

Miranda could have sworn that the air had become a little hotter for a few minutes after she heard that, but she quickly put any thoughts on that aside and nodded in response to Steve, showing that she was glad to hear that he trusted her with such an important role; though she did so without realizing that she was throwing him a small smile of honest happiness when she did. After everyone had started moving into their respective groups, Jacob was the next one to ask a question regarding the teams. "Are you sure you want me on the assault team with you, Cap? I'd probably be better off on the stealth team, and let's not forget that you're also putting our only real field medic on the assault team as well."

"It's because of Mordin's talents as a medic that I'm putting him on the assault team, plus considering how skilled he is at multi-tasking, I'm hoping that he'll also be able to pick up on some data that both teams would probably miss for one reason or another," Steve explained. "I realize that he would probably be better on the stealth team, but I'd much rather make sure the chances of everyone in our group coming out of this alive are as high as possible. As for my reasons for having you with us, well, you'd just have to look at who else is on the assault team, and you'd be able to realize that I'd need at least one other person with a level head with me to make sure no one goes overboard or takes any unnecessary risks. No offense Jack, Grunt."

"None taken," the two immediately replied in sync, each supporting a grin that showed that they were fully aware of why Steve would say that he needed someone else on the team with a level head, and that they were not ashamed of it.

After looking at the two groups for another minute, Jacob finally shrugged in acceptance of this and moved to stand with the rest of the assault team while Steve used his omni-tool to bring up a map of the area ahead. "Alright, from what EDI gave me of the colony's layout, we should be able to rendezvous at a shelter that's just a short ways from the central control station for those defensive guns, but whoever gets there first will not likely have the luxury of waiting forever, so we'll need to do our best to arrive as close to the same time as one another as possible. Beyond that, just do what you can to stay alive." He then turned to Mordin with a question of his own. "Professor, are you sure that the modifications you made to our armors will work against the seeker swarms?"

"Certainty impossible, but in limited numbers, should confuse detection, make us invisible to swarms…in theory," Mordin admitted.

"In theory," Kasumi asked with concern evident in her tone.

"Well it is experimental tech we're dealing with here, and we didn't really have a lot of time to test it in a controlled environment before we received the call for this mission, so…" Spider-Man explained, leaving the end of his sentence unfinished for a variety of reasons.

"Should be exciting," Mordin cheerfully commented, though it did not do much to raise everyone's hopes.

Thankfully, the good doctor did not need to worry about doing such things himself, because Captain America was soon able to. "Either way, it's all we have right now, so it's a chance that we'll have to take. Keep your guard up at all times, and if you encounter the enemy, either get away or turn them to ash. As of now, we're going to be officially letting the Collectors know just who they are at war with, and that we will fight to the very end in order to stop them if we have to."

That seemed to set everyone's confidence firmly in place, and with that said, the two groups split off from each other, with Cap's team taking point while Miranda led her three current teammates off to a well-covered area so that they could move in to do their job the minute that the assault team had secured the Collectors' attention. As the two groups were moving, Miranda found that she was unable to stop herself from throwing one last concerned look at the back of the red and blue suited man that was leading this entire mission, and secretly praying that he would be careful on this assignment, and not just because they needed him for their primary mission to succeed either.

* * *

It did not take long for the assault team to find themselves in a confrontation with the Collectors, but thankfully, the element of surprise was on their side, so the bug-like aliens were defeated in a matter of minutes. It was not an easy victory, but thanks a combined effort from Jack's biotics, Grunt's power, Mordin's quick thinking and medical and technological expertise, and Jacob and Cap's skills the battle did end in their favor, allowing the group to quickly move forward as fast as they could. Shortly after the first skirmish, the group found themselves encountering a small sized seeker swarm, and none of them could keep themselves from breathing a sigh of relief when the little bugs just flew past them like they were not even there, indicating that Mordin's countermeasure worked like it was supposed to. Unfortunately, that did not mean they did not encounter some form of problems as they made their way through the relative ghost town of a colony.

 _"Captain, we're getting…of interference. We can't maintain…,"_ Joker's voice reported through a haze of static, until his voice was completely lost, drawing looks of concern from everyone.

"What happened," Steve asked as he looked to his group in hopes that one of them could give him an answer.

"Collector ship disrupting communications," Mordin reported after he checked a few readings on his omni-tool.

"That's not good," Jacob muttered, voicing everyone's thoughts once he had, and it was clear that it was for more than just one reason.

Captain America was quick to catch on to one of those reasons, and he immediately tapped his radio in the hopes of contacting their other group. "Miranda, do you read me?"

 _"Loud and clear, Rogers. Is something wrong,"_ Miranda instantly replied.

"Our communications with the ship just went out, and Mordin believes that the Collector ship is jamming the signal somehow. How're things on your end?"

After a moment's pause, Miranda eventually answered, _"I can't reach the ship either, Captain, but it does seem that our short-range communications are still functional. Though for how long that remains true I can't be sure."_

"Well we'd better not take too much of a chance," Steve decided. "I want your team to maintain radio silence for as long as possible unless you discover something of great significance."

 _"I think we already have found a couple of things, Cap,"_ Spider-Man's voice suddenly said.

"Please explain discovery, Spider-Man," Mordin requested, having overheard his lab partner's words.

 _"We've found a few of the colonists, but it doesn't seem like they're going anywhere any time soon. They seem to be fully aware of their surroundings, but they're completely frozen in place, almost like they're in some kind of stasis. I'm not sure how long it's been since they were frozen either."_

"Sounds like what Veetor told us that the seeker swarms did to the colonists on Freedom's Progress," Jacob noted.

 _"There's something else you should know, Cap,"_ Peter then said, immediately grabbing Steve's attention. _"I think…we've found Logan. He appears to be in the same state as the other colonists."_

"How's that possible," Steve asked in total surprise. "Logan's healing powers should prevent him from being effected by any type of toxin."

"Collector seeker swarms utilize unknown, alien technology. Likely to be more potent than any toxin encountered in known history. Effects on Wolverine likely only fully induced after multiple attacks from seeker swarms," Mordin theorized.

Steve did not know what to think about that, because the fact that these seeker swarms were able to affect Logan to such an extent was something that honestly scared him quite a great deal. He did not have time to dwell on such thoughts though, both because the mission took priority at the moment, and the fact that his team were quickly ducking for cover due to the fact that a newly arrived strike force of Collectors were soon raining down fire on them from above as they descended to the ground with what Steve could only assume were some types of bio-tech jetpacks that seemed similar to insect wings. "You four keep moving, and remember, maintain radio silence unless you find something of great significance or we contact you," Steve shouted into his radio over the explosions and weapons fire that was now peppering his group, and he then closed the communication line before any of the stealth team could respond.

At that point, he immediately popped up and started firing his pistol while using his shield to block as much of the enemy fire as possible, while the others just lay into the Collectors with their own weapons and abilities. Mordin made sure to hold a position at the rear, as he was the team's field medic and so that he could gather some more data on their primary enemy, but Jack and Grunt took no such precautions and instead just flared up their respective abilities while they unleashed hell. Thankfully, Jacob was able to help Steve keep the two from going too crazy on their enemies, but not by very much, as Grunt and Jack both continuously fired their weapons without any regard for how much ammunition they were wasting. Thankfully, Jack did not use her weapons that much, as she often elected to throw out a few blasts of biotic powers at a good number of the Collectors, but those abilities did not seem to slow them down for long, and eventually, they found themselves encountering something else as well.

"What the hell," was the only thing that Jacob managed to shout before a grey-skinned, zombie-like creature suddenly rushed up to him and started swatting its arms at him like an out of control berserker. Looking at these strange abominations allowed one to also see a series of blue lights where the eyes should be, and in other parts of the body as well, while wiring and other odds and ends stuck out from their skin. Captain America paid it little mind though, as the minute that he dispatched the Collector that was closest to him, he flipped over his cover and ran up to take out the monstrosity that was attacking Jacob, ending it with a hard hit to its head and by driving his shield through the creature's throat. He then tossed his shield into another one of the creatures, and the vibranium disk easily sliced through the creature's chest before it fell dead. Steve did not bother waiting for his shield to return to him before he engaged the remaining zombie-creatures, but instead, just opened fire with his assault rifle as he charged forward and knocked the creatures off their feet with a flurry of martial arts movements that were punctuated by some final shots from his gun to finish the creatures off.

When he turned to call his shield back over to him with the electro-magnets in his arms, his vision was quickly filled with a Collector aiming an organic-looking gun right at his head. Just as the alien was charging up its weapon to fire, a loud roar greeted both their ears just before someone shouted, "Krogan-Hulk smash!"

Seconds later, the Collector was bashed aside and then torn apart by Grunt as he released a savage-sounding roar, while his green eyes seemed to glow a little more brightly for a moment. Unfortunately, Grunt's sudden charge did not end there, because he was soon moving to tear through nearby buildings and structures like a mindless beast. Seeing this immediately told Steve that Grunt had either given into krogan bloodlust or Hulk gamma-rage and he knew that he had to get his heavy hitter to calm down quickly, so he immediately charged into Grunt's path, causing the Krogan-Hulk to stop as he continued roaring, and shouted, "Stand down, Grunt. That's an order." Grunt did not acknowledge Steve's words, but instead slowly stomped towards him like he was intending to rip the super soldier in half as easily as he had the Collector. Cap paid no mind to his teammates' cries for him to get out of the way, and held his ground before he hollered, "I SAID STAND DOWN, SOLDIER!"

This time, Grunt completely halted his advance, and his eyes soon lost their glow as he shook his head a little to clear out some cobwebs that had formed in his mind for a moment. "Cap," Grunt asked. "What…what happened? I remember charging a Collector that was about to attack you and then…"

"Don't worry about it too much, Grunt," Steve reassured his large teammate. "You just let yourself get a little wrapped up in your anger for a moment. Just remember what we worked on before the next time it happens, make sure that you're directing it at the enemy, and we should be fine." After Grunt nodded in response to this, he joined Steve in moving over to where the rest of their group was gathered in silence until the super soldier asked, "So, how did that particular battle cry feel?"

"Still didn't feel right," Grunt admitted with a sad-sounding sigh.

"Well, just keep working on it, son," Steve told Grunt, and he then turned his attention to the odd creature that had joined the Collectors in attacking his group. "Just what is that thing," Steve eventually asked. "It almost looks…human."

"They look like husks," Jacob replied, only gaining a confused look from the super soldier that clearly asked for further explanation. "They're a kind of synthetic-organic, zombie like creature that were used by the geth when they were taking orders from Saren. Shepard and his team encountered them quite a bit during their hunt for Saren, especially after their first encounter with them on Eden Prime, and more often than not, they were created using the dead bodies of humans that Saren and the geth had killed."

"Husk technology came from Sovereign," Mordin quickly added.

"Which means your Illusive Man was right. The Collectors must work for the Reapers," Grunt snarled.

Cap's eyes were soon on the husk that they were looking down at, and he could feel a great anger spiking through him, all being directed at both the Collectors and the Reapers. To think that such beings would pervert a person's death in such a horrible way like this was appalling to say the least, right to the point where the mere sight of the creature just made Steve more and more infuriated. After another minute of stewing in his rage, Steve managed to calm himself down enough to ask about another important matter. "Do you think that these things were once the colonists that the Collectors have taken?"

"No. No husk creation spikes. Collectors brought husks with them. Taking colonists with them. Some other purpose," Mordin noted.

"They also seem a bit different from the ones that Shepard's team fought in their hunt for Saren, at least from what I've read in the reports," Jacob informed everyone. "It's almost like they've…evolved or something."

"Maybe the Collectors gave 'em some upgrades," Jack offered. "I mean, if they work for the Reapers, it would make sense that they could do it, right?"

"Doesn't matter. They still die when you shoot 'em, or smash 'em," Grunt pointed out.

"Still, it doesn't change the fact that this is a clear sign that the Collectors must be experimenting on the colonists. The only questions are why and what are they up to," Steve reminded.

"Fascinating questions. Answer…probably unpleasant," Mordin replied.

"And there's only one way for us to find out at the moment," Jacob said as he looked towards the Collector ship, his gaze soon being joined by the others.

"Then I guess we can't afford to waste anymore time here, so let's move out," Steve ordered as he called his shield back over to him with his armor's electro-magnets. Once everyone had gathered up some thermal clips for their guns and reloaded their weapons, they were all quickly moving on to the rendezvous point, hoping that they would not encounter any further surprises from the Collectors.

* * *

Shortly after leaving their previous battleground, the assault team found themselves encountering some of the paralyzed colonists that Spider-Man and Miranda had mentioned to them, and they only paused for a few moments so that Mordin could run a few scans of the colonists before moving on again, as the rendezvous point was now just around the corner from their position. Sadly, they soon found themselves needing to fight their way there, as another battalion of Collectors descended upon them from above. Just before the fighting began though, something unexpected happened that shocked the entire team. One of the Collectors suddenly started convulsing and twitching, almost as though it were having a spasm attack of some kind, and then suddenly, it lifted into the air and started to glow as cracks began forming in its body until finally, an explosion of energy was released from the Collector, and it descended back to the ground. When it did, everyone saw that the Collector in question had changed quite a bit from what it once was, as it now emitted a rather foreboding glow through the cracks that had formed in its skin, while what appeared to be lightning surged around its body. The only thing that shocked them more, was when the Collector actually spoke, giving orders to the others when it did.

 **"Preserve the humans' bodies if possible. Kill the others,"** the Collector commanded his fellow insectoid aliens.

"Wow, I feel so special," Jack grumbled before unleashing a power wave of biotic energy on a group of Collectors that was converging on their position. The minute that Jack had blasted the offending aliens away, the team scattered for cover, firing weapons on the Collectors as they did. "Someone want to tell me what the hell that fucker is," Jack shouted as she fired her heavy pistol at anything that was not on her team.

Surprisingly, it was actually the altered Collector that answered her. **"We are Harbinger, and we are your genetic destiny. You will know pain, humans."**

"Well if that's what you want us to know, then you're a little late on the lesson," Jacob commented before popping out from behind his cover and tossing out a biotic blast of his own into a group of Collectors, sending three of the aliens flying up into the air. Once he saw the Collectors helplessly floating in the air, Mordin immediately fired a few rounds at the Collectors, killing them in a matter of seconds. Seeing that the Collectors he had blasted were dealt with, Jacob quickly exchanged a quick nod of thanks with Mordin and then returned to firing his pistol at the enemy forces.

Sadly, it did not seem like this group of Collectors would be dealt with as easily as the others, especially in the case of the one who called itself Harbinger, because no matter what the team threw at Harbinger, it all seemed to bounce off some sort of energy field that had surrounded him. The only things that seemed to get through were the few biotic attacks that Jacob and Jack were able to spare, but that solution did not provide very satisfactory results. When he saw that a pair of Collectors were approaching him, Steve quickly shot down a few on the edges of the group and then jumped up with his shield ready as he charged directly towards them. A quick throw of his shield allowed him to take down one of the Collectors that had been approaching, and when the disk came back towards him, Cap quickly kicked it towards another one, knocking it out of the fight as well, while his shield was left to land somewhere else on the battlefield away from him. That did not stop Captain America though, as he quickly engaged the last one in close combat, and soon knocked it down on the ground with a quick series of punches and a snap kick before finishing it off with a simple shot from his pistol.

Cap's actions immediately grabbed Harbingers attention, and the Collector was soon making its way towards the super soldier at a slow pace that was not hindered at all by anything the rest of the team threw at him. **"Human; viable possibility. Various genetic enhancements detected within subject. Combat capabilities that likely match or exceed that of Shepard's. You are an unknown. You will be studied or eliminated."**

"I wouldn't bet on that," Steve retorted as he raised his fists up to show that he was not going down without a fight. Harbinger did not show any signs of slowing at all, or even pausing at the sight of Cap's insistence on continuing to resist, but before either of the two could engage one another in battle, a sudden glob of webbing suddenly smacked right into Harbinger's eyes, nearly blinding him and leaving him unprepared for when a web line suddenly attached itself to his form and then hoisted him into the air. The sound of a gunshot then rang out through the air as Harbinger was soon knocked back by the force of the blast that was fired, leaving him open for Grunt to finish off with a powerful leap that ended with him slamming Harbinger's body down into the ground with his bare hands. When the Collector hit the ground, the force was so great that Harbinger immediately faded away into dust, indicating that he had been beaten for the moment, which allowed Steve to turn to the source of his last minute rescue so that he could see Spider-Man, Garrus, Miranda, and Kasumi standing tall just a short distance away.

"Sorry if we're late, but we got a little held up running some scans of the colonists," Garrus quipped as he reloaded his sniper rifle and then leapt down from the walkway that his group was on top of so he could find another firing position.

"Not to mention we had a little encounter with the walking dead, so there was that too," Spider-Man added as he leapt down into the middle of the battlefield as well, where a few Collectors were quickly surrounding him.

"The walking what," Garrus asked in confusion before he fired a shot that knocked out one of the Collectors.

Spider-Man only paused for a minute after he had fired a web dart into one of the Collectors, which seemed to electrocute the target upon making contact, and said, "I'm actually just gonna let that one go. Never was a fan of zombie stuff, and I'm even less of one now."

Cap just gave the group a quick salute of thanks for their timely arrival before turning his attention back to the remaining Collectors, which the team was now beginning to mop up the last of, even if there were still quite a few of them. In no time at all, Captain America was knocking out various Collectors, be it with his weapons or his own hand-to-hand combat skills, which included quite an impressive display of acrobatics on his part, until he suddenly found himself fighting next to Spider-Man, who was varying between fighting with his wrist-mounted repulsors, web-shooters, and his own style of fighting before using a web line to snag Cap's shield. Once the web line was secured to the vibranium shield, Spidey gave it a hard pull and sent the shield flying around the area around him and Steve until a number of Collectors were either knocked down or just forced back. With one last pull on his web, Spidey brought the shield back over to Captain America, who immediately caught the shield before spinning around, and using the indestructible disk to swipe a Collector's feet out from under it and then using the shield's edge to impale the Collector's neck.

Similar shows of teamwork could be sighted all across the battlefield, as Miranda and Jacob both managed to down a number of Collectors by setting a target up with their respective biotics before letting the other one finish the targeted Collector off with whatever weapon they were wielding at the time. At the same time, Jack and Grunt were also able to tear through a number of enemies as well, as Grunt's massive strength allowed him to take quite a bit of punishment as he charged, while Jack paralyzed whatever target she could hit with her biotics for the Krogan-Hulk, while she finished off whichever Collectors survived an initial encounter with Grunt. Finally, Garrus and Mordin were able to deal with various enemies at a distance, as Garrus managed to keep the professor well covered in case he needed to perform any emergency medical treatments for the team while Mordin managed to use his omni-tool to fire a high-energy plasma round into an enemy, leaving the target open for Garrus to take out as it flailed around helplessly in an attempt to extinguish the flame that had engulfed it.

Not everything went so smoothly though, as evidenced when Kasumi used her cloak to disappear and attempt to get around the enemy's flank. As the master thief was moving, a Collector turned its attention towards her and fired a powerful blast from its cannon that knocked Kasumi off her feet and across the ground, forcing her to drop her cloak as she came to a halt. Captain America was quick to notice when Kasumi went down, and immediately shouted for Spider-Man to help her, an order that Peter was all too happy to carry out without any problems. A few web-zips later, and Spider-Man had managed to pull Kasumi safely over to Mordin so that the salarian professor could administer some quick medical treatment. By the time Mordin finished treating Kasumi's injuries, the battle had finished, and the whole team had gathered together to take stock of their condition.

"How's our master thief," Steve asked.

"A little shaken, but I'll be fine otherwise, Taicho," Kasumi reassured Steve, while easing everyone else's concerns as well as she gave the best version of her usual, easy-going, yet confident smile.

Despite Kasumi's efforts though, it did not detract from the main concern of the matter, which only Miranda seemed willing to bring up. "What exactly happened? How did they manage to land a hit on you," the genetically perfect woman inquired.

"I…I don't know," Kasumi finally admitted. "That's never happened before whenever I used my cloak. It was almost like those things could actually see me."

"Physically seems fine. Would recommend not taking too strenuous actions in near future. Could be detrimental," Mordin advised his patient.

"We'll worry about that later. Right now, we should get to that shelter over there. It looks like the Collectors were having a hard time getting in, so it may be a good place for us to take stock of what we still have going for us," Captain America told the group, quickly getting a few nods in response before they made their way over to the bunker.

Once they had reached said shelter, Kasumi went to work hacking the lock so that they could get it open, and soon enough, they were able to make their way inside, with Jacob closing the door behind them once they had. At that point, Steve noticed a sudden movement in the shadows, and he immediately moved to the front of the group with his shield forward before calling out, "Whoever's hiding over there, come out where we can see you."

Everyone had instantly went on their guard again after Steve said that, and were all either dropping into fighting stances, reaching for their weapons, or just arming themselves while aiming their weapons in the direction that Cap was facing. None of them dropped their guarded stances again until they finally saw their company was in fact human and clearly not an enemy. From the way that the man was dressed, he was most likely a civilian or one of the people in charge of maintaining the colony, and even in the limited amount of light that the room had, they could see that he had a roughly trimmed mustache, along with few indications that he was probably middle-aged. When the man had fully stepped out of his hiding spot, everyone had lowered their weapons once again and relaxed their guard, waiting for the civilian to say something.

"You're…you're human," the man finally gasped in relief after a minute, only to adopt a more panicked tone a second later. "What're ya doing out here? You'll lead them right here!"

"I'd hate to disappoint you, sir, but the Collectors were trying to get in here long before we arrived," Steve informed the man.

"Those things are Collectors? You mean, their real," the man gasped in astonishment.

"No, they're the love children of the Skrull and the symbiotes. Of course they're Collectors," Spider-Man remarked. He was quickly flinching a little when Garrus, Jacob, and Cap all shot him mildly reproaching looks that clearly said now was not the best time.

That was quickly proven when the man started muttering in a panic once again. "I thought they were just made up. You know, propaganda to keep us in Alliance Space. Oh…they got Lilith! I-I saw her go down! Stanton too…they got damn near everybody!"

Seeing the man was starting to panic immediately prompted Peter to approach and place a calming hand on the civilian's shoulder in an attempt to keep him from having a total panic attack. "Calm down. We're here to try and stop them, but we won't be able to do much at the moment unless you can tell us what you know about the attack," Spidey calmly reassured the man. "What's your name?"

"M-my name's Delan. I'm a mechanic for the colony," Delan replied after taking a deep breath to ease his nerves a little and then staring at Spider-Man's strange armor for a minute.

"What're you doing here," Miranda then inquired.

"I came down here to check on the main grid after we lost our comm. signals. Then I heard screaming. I looked outside and there were swarms of…bugs. Everyone they touched just froze, even a few of the mutant citizens who had some kind of healing powers in them. I sealed the doors to try and keep them from getting me as well."

"And you didn't think to try and help anyone else," Jacob asked with a mild glare on his face, showing he was already assuming the worst.

"I…I was scared, alright? A lot of the people who were closest to me had already gotten hit by those things, so I panicked and thought that if I went out there to try and do something they would get me too," Delan hurriedly explained, and no one needed to be experts at reading people in any way to know that he was telling the truth. After a second or so, Delan gained a rather apparent scowl on his face before he added, "I-it's the Alliance's fault. They stationed that Chief Williams and that crazy, son of a bitch, Admiral Howlet here and built those defense towers! It just made us a target."

"Admiral? Well that's a title I never would've associated Logan with back in the day," Steve muttered to himself before turning to Delan as he waved Peter aside. "Would you mind telling me a little more about those Alliance reps or what they were doing here?"

"What, Chief Williams and Admiral Howlet? Sure, but I don't really know that much," Delan admitted. "Heard Williams was some kind of hero or something, and Howlet is supposed to be this big, famous mutant that was actually around back in the Age of Marvels. Didn't mean nothing to me though. I'd rather they'd both had just stayed back in Council Space. They were supposed to be helping to get the defense towers up and running, but I got the feeling they were here for something else; spying on us, maybe. At least in the case of Williams, because it was clear as day from the minute he arrived that Howlet wasn't going to be any help with getting the defense towers working, and he just ended up trying to act at being nice and helping to check on our supplies while looking around at some of the mutants who live here. I think he was here to try and take those kids and make 'em become part of those X-Guys that work in the Alliance as some kind of mutant police or military force or something."

"Logan wouldn't try to force anyone to do something they wouldn't want to. He's always stuck to the belief that the choice to be an X-Man was the decision of the person it was being offered to," Captain America tried to reassure the man. Seeing that Delan did not likely believe him, he figured he might as well move on to another topic. "What about these defense towers? We saw a few of them on our way over here, and I was wondering why they did not seem to be firing on the Collectors. Do they need someone to man them?"

"No, they're automatic, and they were a 'gift' from the Alliance," Delan sneered once again. "They're high-powered, GARDIAN Lasers, and they're supposed to keep hostile ships from landing near the colony. We had to build a massive, underground generator just to give it enough juice, only we couldn't get the targeting systems online. So the Alliance gave us a giant gun that couldn't shoot straight, stupid sons of bitches!"

"What're you thinking, Boy Scout," Jack inquired the minute she saw Steve getting a contemplative look on his face after hearing all of this.

"Maybe…if we can get that targeting system working, we can use those guns to disable the Collector ship long enough to get inside and get at least some of the captured colonists out."

"While simultaneously gain some insight on the Collectors themselves," Miranda finished with a slight tone of approval. "Seems a little risky though."

"She's right. If the Collectors know that those guns just need a few adjustments to get them working then they'll likely want to keep us away from the controls for the targeting system any way that they possibly can," Garrus nodded.

"Possibility certainly likely, but calibrating targeting systems shouldn't be hard to figure out. Dealing with Collectors that try to stop us should also be simple given current fighting strength. Just need the location now," Mordin reasoned.

Everyone then looked to Delan, clearly asking if he could point them in the direction they needed to go, and they were not disappointed when Delan told them, "Head for the main transmitter on the other side of the colony. It's pretty hard to miss. The targeting controls are at the base."

"Thanks," Captain America nodded. "You should probably stay here where you'll most likely be safe and out of the way."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," Delan admitted before bringing up his omni-tool. "I swear, I came here to get away from the Alliance and their crap, since nothing good ever comes from getting mixed up with them alone, and even less from getting involved with their little mutie division, and then this shit happens," he then muttered to himself, drawing mild glares from Spidey, Cap, and the few others who heard him when he did. He then coughed a bit and faced the group again to say, "I'll let you all out, but I'm locking the door behind you. I'm not taking any chances. Good luck. I think you're gonna need it."

Everyone gave Delan a small nod in thanks for his last words and then moved to the door that they needed to leave from so that they could get to the targeting system's location. Once they were through the door and it had locked behind them like Delan said it would be Jack found that she had to sarcastically remark, "Well, he seemed to be real fucking pleasant."

"Trust me, Jack, compared to a certain, blowhard former newsman I knew who somehow ended up becoming mayor of New York at one point, that guy was just mildly irritating," Spider-Man informed the bald biotic. After a minute of silence or so, he eventually added, "Of course that doesn't mean I didn't want to web his mouth shut after listening to all his anti-Alliance ranting and comments about Logan and mutants."

"I'd have been okay with that if you did," Captain America admitted with a smile, getting a few smirks out of the rest of the team once he had said so. With that said the team schooled themselves again for the upcoming confrontations and immediately pressed onward to their next destination on Horizon.

* * *

The team's journey over to the far side of the colony was not easy, but it was rather simple in comparison to how their travels across Horizon had been so far. They encountered a few more husks here and there, as well as a few more Collector squads, but there had been no further signs of beings like Harbinger appearing before them, or anything else that would have been considered a major threat to the group really. Of course, everyone was a bit on edge when it came to bringing up the topic of Harbinger, but it did not stop Mordin and Miranda from coming up with a few hypotheses on the matter. One of the main two theories that the two had was that Harbinger was actually the leading figure in the Collectors, which was able to insert itself into any Collector's body for a brief moment of time while enhancing that Collector body as it had done in their first encounter with Harbinger, which had led Spidey to say that sounded like something he heard of from _Star Trek_ , much to the amusement of some, the irritation of others, and the confusion of anyone who did not know what he was talking about, i.e.: Garrus, Grunt, Jack, and Mordin. The other theory was that Harbinger was an actual Reaper, like Sovereign, and that this particular Reaper was the one who directly commanded the Collectors for the rest of the race of killing machines. No one really wanted to think about it too much if it was the latter, and thankfully, they were able to put the matter on hold once they had finally reached the main transmitter, which was indeed hard to miss, just as Delan had said it would be.

After eliminating any Collectors that were in the area, along with a few husks that were just sitting around until a target appeared for them, Captain America led the team over to the targeting controls and stared at the computer for a minute until he finally motioned for Garrus or Kasumi to come over and work on the thing for him. "I was hoping for more of a fight, but this is just too easy," Grunt grumbled as the master thief and former vigilante worked.

At the sound of a dramatic gasp, everyone other than the two who working at the targeting controls looked to Spider-Man to see that he was staring at Grunt, no doubt in wide-eyed astonishment or concern given the gasp he had just let out. "You did not just say that. Please tell me you did not just say that. Of all the things you could say, please, _please_ tell me you did not say that," Spider-Man frantically begged.

"Say what? That this is too easy," Grunt asked.

"Oh god, not only did he say it once, he's now said it a second time," Spider-Man moaned.

"Perhaps further elaboration for distress would help resolve confusion as to reason for sudden distress," Mordin offered.

"You never say things like that. Ever," Spider-Man said.

"Why," Grunt asked.

"Because things always start to go really bad after you say something like that."

"We've got a bit of a problem," Garrus suddenly called out. "I can't seem to get this thing working. The thing's targeting matrix is so crazily messed up that you would need to have the mind of a computer to get these guns working."

"Case and point," Peter muttered as Cap raised a hand to comm. device, hoping that he could get in touch with the one person who would have more of a chance at getting these guns working than any of the rest of the team now did.

" _Normandy_ , this is Captain America. Do you copy," Steve called.

 _"Joker here. Sorry about before, Cap. The Collectors found a way to block our comm. at our last position so I had to do some fancy flying in order to get so much as a signal through again. Signal's weak but we've got you now,"_ the pilot's voice replied through a small haze of static.

Steve had to grin a little in response to hearing Joker's voice again, even if the quality of the communication was not ideal, but the fact that it was enough to get a signal through at all was good enough for him, and hopefully, it would be good enough for what they needed. "EDI, we may have a way into the Collector ship so that we can rescue the captured colonists, but it'll only work if we can get the colony's defense towers online. Can you do it?"

 ** _"Errors in the calibration software are easily rectified for me, Captain, but it will take time to bring the towers to full power. I recommend a defensive posture. I will not be able to mask the increased generator output."_**

"Which means that the Collectors will notice and converge on this position in an attempt to stop it," Miranda finished.

"Good. Maybe we'll finally get a real fight," Grunt grinned.

"That's not a good thing, Grunt. That's a thing that's likely to get us all killed since they'll be sending a lot of their bigger guns after us," Spider-Man corrected, but all that did was make the Krogan-Hulk grin even more and start laughing in excitement.

"Any other helpful tips from our favorite ship-board AI," Kasumi inquired as she stepped away from the computer she had previously been working on once she saw EDI had started doing her work.

 ** _"Just one, Miss Goto. Enemy reinforcements are closing in. I suggest you ready weapons."_**

"No shit," Jack remarked sarcastically as she pulled out her shotgun and readied herself for action, with everyone else doing the same shortly after.

"Garrus, Kasumi, and Mordin, you three stay up here and keep that computer safe until EDI's finished. Everyone else, pick a target and take it down. Let's show these monsters what happens when they cross us," Captain America ordered.

A chorus of "yes sirs" and similarly positive responses were all that Captain America received in reply before everyone had quickly scattered to a position that would both allow them to carry out their jobs as necessary and keep the three guarding the platform as well as the computer for the targeting matrix out of the Collectors' reach for as long as possible, and then, all they had left to do was wait. That wait was not very long though, as seconds later, the Collectors had dropped down from above them with a few husks racing into the area shortly after, and the team immediately opened fire with whatever they had as soon as they saw the yellows and blues of the two opposing forces' eyes. The only problem was that this time around, it seemed that the Collectors had no problem with unleashing everything they had on the team, as evidenced by how everyone was now struggling to just avoid being hit by enemy fire after they saw how one blast from a Collector weapon created a massive hole in a nearby wall, and they all had a sneaking suspicion that the aliens were still holding back. Thankfully, the husks were easier to deal with for most of the team, seeing as the zombie-like beings just ran right up to them, making them easy targets for anyone who fought with weapons like shotguns or who preferred fighting in close-combat like Spider-Man and Captain America, but that was still a small comfort given how the Collectors would always open fire on anyone who was not careful enough to remain in their cover while they tried to repel a husk.

This struggle was only made more difficult when Jack suddenly found herself tiring out from an overuse of her biotics for the first time in her life, at least as far as she could remember, and it was not long after that when some of the team started finding their weapons running short on ammunition. Thankfully, the latter was not too much of an issue for some of the team, such as Spider-Man, who was mainly fighting with his armor's wrist repulsors and web-shooters, and Captain America, who normally engaged Collectors and husks in direct, hand-to-hand combat or a few quick swipes and throws of his shield, and Jacob was able to get Jack into cover so that she could catch her breath and recharge enough so that she could use her biotics again. It probably would have gone a bit more easily if everyone was able to fully join in on the fighting for the entire time, but there was never really a moment when anyone was able to do so after everyone started running low on steam in one way or another.

Eventually, Grunt could no longer contain himself and just charged their attackers, fists swinging madly as he roared with rage, and this time, no one planned on stopping him any time soon. At least, no one other than the Collectors, because after Grunt managed to take out a number of their forces, the alien beings began focusing most of their attention on the Krogan-Hulk. At first, Grunt was able to take most of the punishment that was being dealt to him, but when so much was being thrown at him at once, after a while, it began to become too much for him to take, and he was too far out for Mordin to safely get to him so that the salarian could administer some field medical treatments. Seeing this prompted Steve to turn to their resident kleptomaniac and shout, "Kasumi, get to Grunt and pull him back here."

Normally, Kasumi would not have hesitated to do as ordered, but just as she was starting to trigger her cloaking device, her mind suddenly flashed back to when the Collectors had seen through her cloak and managed to land a powerful hit on her. The fact that someone had managed to see through her cloak at all scared her, but when one added in the fact that she had actually been hurt while cloaking was petrifying, and it was taking everything she had to not curl up into a ball and start whimpering at that point, despite the explosions, gunfire, and yelling that was happening all around her. Seeing that Kasumi had not moved from her position to help Grunt, and that said krogan was only getting hit harder and harder by the second, Captain America immediately repeated his orders to the master thief, only to receive no reaction at all. That just left him with one other option. "Spider-Man, get to Grunt and pull him back here, fast!"

"I'm on it," Spider-Man replied as he sprang up from behind the crates he had taken cover behind with a powerful flip, and after sending a quick pair of repulsor blasts into some Collectors that were converging on Jacob's position, he was soon web-zipping over to Grunt as fast as he could. Once he had reached Grunt, Spidey immediately went to work clearing out the alien beings through a combined use of his webs, fighting abilities, and repulsors, until he eventually managed to clear just enough of them out so that he could lift Grunt up off the ground as best as he could and pull the big guy back over to the safety of their teammates. Just as he was reaching them, that familiar tingling that he knew to be his Spider-Sense started blaring in warning, prompting him to raise an arm in defense just seconds before a blast of blue energy had struck him at full force, drawing a cry of pain out from him when it hit and shattered the armor on his left arm.

Hearing Peter's cry prompted Cap to take action, and in no time at all, he too was springing out from his cover and making his way over to his fallen comrades. The journey was not easily accomplished, despite the short distance, but thankfully, this was not the first time that Captain America had to race across a battlefield in order to reach a fellow soldier who had gotten hit hard in combat, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to send his shield flying into one Collector, knocking it right into the line of fire for a sniper shot provided by Garrus, and then spinning around to kick the vibranium disk into another so that it was in the perfect position for Miranda to send it flying with a biotic throw. Upon catching his trusty shield on his arm when it returned, Steve spun around in a flip to land a powerful kick into one of the last Collectors that was standing between him and Spider-Man and Grunt, but he was quickly bringing up his shield again when another barrage of weapons fire like the one that had hit Spidey suddenly came down on him.

As he kneeled down over his two allies while deflecting the blasts that were being directed at him, Cap somehow managed to get an arm under Peter, who used one of his web shooters to attach a line to Grunt so that Cap would be able to get them both out of there without having to use both arms. As he continued bracing himself against the blasts that were pounding on his shield, Cap looked to his spider-themed friend and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Me, yeah. It was mostly the shock of the blast and my armor getting banged up so badly that caused me to scream like that," Peter admitted, only to pause for a minute as a sudden sparking sound reached the two's ears, drawing their attention to his arm that had been hit. "My left wrist repulsor on the other hand, not so much." Indeed, it was clear as day that Spider-Man's left repulsor was now too damaged to be used safely anymore, if even at all, but Steve was just glad for the fact that it was only the armor and the technology in it that was damaged and not Peter's arm. When Peter moved to shoot off another burst of webbing from his right web shooter though, that arm's web shooter was soon joining the damaged repulsor in the way of the team's technology that was being taken out of play after it was hit by a concentrated blast from one of the Collectors. "Are you kidding me," Peter moaned in disbelief. "I redesigned these things so that they could stand up to being destroyed by a krogan specifically so that this wouldn't happen!"

"Well, at least now you know that you'll have a bit more work to do later on for our next encounter with these things," Cap pointed out as he finally managed to get the two behind cover just as Mordin was reaching them, omni-tool and medi-gel already prepped.

"Nothing too serious in the case of Spider-Man. Damage is only superficial and mostly on armor. Not difficult to treat," the salarian professor reported after a few seconds. "Krogan-Hulk, on the other hand, seems to have suffered a bit of trauma after taking so much enemy fire. Shouldn't take long to recover though. Just need to apply small amount of medi-gel and should be good to go again in a few seconds."

Steve nodded in response to this and then finally stood up just enough to peek out from behind their cover and finally get a look at what had hit Spider-Man. When Cap ended up gasping at the sight of the being that had done so, Peter's curiosity was easily piqued and he was soon doing the same. When he saw what had drawn a gasp of shock out of Captain America, there was really only one thing that Peter could say. "Giant zombies with laser cannons? For real?!"

Spidey's description of the creature in question was not that far off, because standing just a short distance from where the team was were a number of rather large husks with large humps on their backs, and a shoulder-mounted cannon that was easily throwing out what seemed like biotic blasts. Just looking at this far more distorted version of the husks made a lot of the team feel rather sick to their stomachs all of a sudden, and that was not counting the fact that these new husks' heads were on their shoulders that was opposite that of their cannons. Seeing these things only gave the team more reason to increase their efforts and pray that EDI was close to finishing her work, and those prayers increased even more when one of the Collectors suddenly started convulsing until it transformed into one that had been possessed and enhanced by Harbinger.

 **"You cannot resist,"** Harbinger told the team as he opened fire on them as well, forcing Jack to put most of her focus into forming a biotic shield around everyone that she could in an attempt to deflect the much more powerful blasts that were now being thrown at them. **"Your form is fragile. We bring promise of a greater destiny."**

"Our physical bodies may not be that strong, but what we lack in that area we more than make up for in fighting spirit, and considering that the future you promise would destroy that, I wouldn't exactly call that a comforting thing to think about," Captain America retorted as he threw his shield at Harbinger, only to widen his eyes a little in surprise when the shield bounced off a protective barrier. That did not stop Cap for long, as he was soon able to bring his shield back to him with the electro magnets in his armor, and in no time at all, he was fighting Harbinger in close-combat. Despite having training in almost every martial art form known to human kind, at least back in the twenty-first century, Captain America still found himself struggling to keep ahead of Harbinger's attacks, because the Collector seemed to easily deflect, dodge, and even counter every move that Cap made in an attempt to hit it no matter what he did. Eventually, Cap ended up taking a very serious hit from the Collector, and was knocked onto all fours after slamming into a nearby wall. Just as Harbinger was about to finish the super soldier though, it was suddenly hit by a powerful biotic blast from the side, drawing its attention to Miranda, who seemed rather pissed off, long enough for Steve to spring up and slam an uppercut into its head before severing said head with the edge of his shield.

After glancing around to see that the enemy was finally down, Captain America started to think that the battle was over for the moment and they could catch their breaths, until the Collector that Harbinger had taken control of suddenly shuttered a little with one last thing to say. **"You are an unexpected variable, like Shepard, and like him, you will fail. You think you have won, but you only damage a vessel. You cannot hurt me. The Praetorian will tear you apart. Releasing control."**

"Well, that doesn't sound good," Steve muttered before moving to where his team was gathering. "Status report?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that we're all alright, but none of us are dead, so that must account for something," Miranda reported.

"The only downside is that we're extremely low on thermal clips, our armors have all taken a serious beating to the point where I'm not confident as to how much protection they'll give us once our shields go out, and we're all exhausted. We're in bad shape here, Cap," Jacob added.

"No shit," Jack grumbled while panting. She had not really expected to actually tire herself out like this, or that she would ever reach a limit on what her biotics could do, and the fact that she finally had done so was actually more disturbing than she thought it would have been. "And let's not forget how Little Miss Klepto over there froze up in the middle of that chaos."

That drew quite a bit of attention to the kleptomaniac in question, who could only look away from the others in an attempt to further hide the ashamed look on her face more than her hood was already doing. Her efforts did not really help in preventing Steve from asking the question everyone was wondering though. "What happened back there, Kasumi?"

"I…I don't know," Kasumi admitted. "I was going to do what you asked, but I remembered what happened the last time I used my cloak, and…I guess I…choked." That quickly brought looks of understanding to everyone's faces, and Spider-Man was quick to place a reassuring hand on Kasumi's shoulder as a way of telling her that it was alright. The only downside to his doing so was that everyone was now able to see the damage to his armor clear as day. "Kumo, your arm," Kasumi gasped.

Looking to said appendage, made Peter just wave the concern off and say, "It's just the armor, and in the case of this arm, the repulsor inside of it. I'm fine, really. Only thing on me that got damaged was my tech, which includes my right web shooter, but I've still got one of each, so I should be fine."

"Anybody, got something to eat then, because I'm feeling hungry," Grunt suddenly groaned, drawing looks of disbelief from most of the group to him.

"We've got bigger problems than that at the moment," Captain America revealed in an attempt to steer things back on track. "Harbinger gave us a parting warning before he decided to leave the field this time and said that something called a praetorian was coming for us. Anyone know what that means?"

No one was able to give an answer beyond Miranda saying that the word praetorian was title used during the age of the Roman Empire for someone of substantial rank or influence, which was not really all that helpful at all, until Garrus finally suggested, "Maybe it's another new type of husks like those big ones we had encountered a moment ago."

"I hope not. Those things made me sick to my stomach," Kasumi remarked.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find out one way or another in a few minutes," Cap said, and he then turned his attention to his comm. link. "EDI, status report."

 ** _"Initial power up has been initiated. GARDIAN anti-ship batteries are currently at sixty percent. Synching targeting protocols to Normandy's systems. Continue to protect the tower."_**

"What does she think we've been doing," Grunt grumbled to himself.

"Well it's about to get a lot harder in a minute. We've got incoming," Spider-Man announced mere seconds after Grunt had spoken, all for the simple reason that his Spider-Sense was tingling again, and it was blaring at full blast, which could only mean that something really bad was heading their way.

Barely seconds later, the Collectors and husks were coming back at them in force, each throwing everything they had and more at the team, but none of that was what had them worried. No, the thing that gave the team reason to be concerned would be the horrifying shriek that echoed through the air before a massive, four-legged monstrosity suddenly dropped down from above, releasing a massive energy burst the minute its legs had slammed into the ground. Had the team not found cover quickly enough, they would all have more than likely been sent flying by the blast. An instant later, Grunt, Cap, Spider-Man, and Jack were all charging forwards to try and land some direct hits against the newest beast, who they all assumed was the Praetorian that Harbinger had spoken of before, while the rest of the team provided covering fire, both against the creature and anything else that tried to attack the four. They did not get very far though, as the creature lifted up into the air again, fired a large, blue energy beam that tore through anything in its path, and dropped back down again to release another shockwave, which sent all four flying in different directions.

"Okay, that piece of shit is going to fuck all of us unless we kill it fast," Jack grumbled as she rolled into cover before the Praetorian's energy blast sliced through her.

"Well thank you for that astute observation. Any brilliant ideas on how we might accomplish that task though," Miranda shouted in heavy sarcasm.

Jack would have shouted something in snarling retort had Captain America not shouted, "Now's really not the time for that, people! We can't be arguing when we're pinned down like this. Garrus, Kasumi, get its attention. Spider-Man, the minute they have it, shoot it with some of those electric webs you used earlier."

"They're called Taser Webs," Spider-Man corrected.

Cap ignored Spidey's comment, even though he was filing that bit of information away for the future, and then turned to the others as he said, "Once Spidey's done that, we'll hit it with everything we've got. On my signal…NOW!"

At once, the team was moving into a position where they could each hit the praetorian once Spider-Man, Kasumi, and Garrus had done their jobs, and for their part of the plan, it seemed that Garrus and Kasumi were able to get the praetorian's attention rather easily. Things started going south when Spider-Man finally leaped out and fired a number of Taser Webs at the praetorian, which was soon followed by a barrage of biotics, gunfire, and a repulsor blast, because once the smoke had cleared, everyone could clearly see that the praetorian did not seem to have barley anymore than a scratch on it. The team was now more than worried, and it was now at the point where they were just struggling to survive, until the sound of a loud roar and something slicing through metal caused everyone on both sides to pause in surprise for a minute.

"What the hell was that," Jack finally asked after another minute, and her answer came in the form of one of the nearby, sealed doors suddenly being busted open after two sets of three claws slashed through it with ease, allowing a very pissed off man to come bursting through as he started tearing through anything that was close to him.

"That, my dear Jack, is the sound of a very angry, yet still very welcome cavalry that can only be one mutant: Wolverine," Spider-Man laughed with glee. Captain America had to beam in excitement as well, because Logan "the Wolverine" Howlet had indeed just burst onto the battlefield and was now tearing through the various beings that had been threatening Horizon, and seeing the legendary X-Man was now unfrozen and fighting with them served as just the morale boost that the group needed to keep going.

Wolverine's savage charge through the Collectors eventually led him to stand side-by-side with both Captain America and Spider-Man, and once he was doing so, he found that he could not stop the corners of his mouth from turning upwards a bit when he recognized them, both from their appearances and their scents. "I'd heard that Cap was back from the dead, but I gotta admit, you were the last person I was expecting to see again, Web-Head," Logan told Spidey as he slashed through a husk that just about to jump him.

"Nice to see you too, Toto," Spider-Man joked in response like he often did with Wolverine. Despite the many, _many_ times that the man had threatened to gut him, Spidey knew that Logan did consider him to be a good friend just as much as he did, and he also knew that was the only reason he could get away with calling Wolverine such names.

Surprisingly, Logan actually seemed to smile a little more at hearing Spider-Man call him by that name, but that smile quickly vanished when the three had to duck for cover again to avoid the praetorian's energy blast. "Someone wanna tell me what the hell these things are, and why one of you hasn't already torched that big one," Logan finally shouted over the noise of the battle.

"The bug-like aliens are Collectors while the stuff that looks like it came out of _The Walking Dead_ are called husks, and that really big thing is a praetorian, apparently, and the fact that it's so big and packs a major punch is kinda part of the whole reason why we haven't managed to take it out yet," Spider-Man replied.

Logan growled a little in response to this, because he already knew full well that these things had taken the people he had been sent here to help protect, and no one messed with people who were under Wolverine's protection, especially when some of them were kids. Of course, it could be argued that a vast majority of humanity could be considered as kids compared to Wolverine, but such matters were not important right now. "Never did like that zombie show," Logan grumbled in response to the reference that Peter had made, and he then started analyzing the situation so he could make a plan of his own. "Why else can't you guys take that praetorian thing out?"

"It releases a powerful biotic shockwave every time it lands or when we try to get close, and it's skin is a little too thick for most of our weapons to do very much damage," Cap added on in explanation.

"So why aren't you firing one of your fancy repulsors or some more webs at it," Logan asked the web-swinger who was already shooting both weapons at any enemy that was not the praetorian.

"For one thing, only one of them is working, and it's getting seriously close to reaching its limit with what I'm already using it for," Spidey explained. "Plus, I'm already down to one of each, and I'm not sure if I could web that thing up all that well if at all with just one web shooter."

Logan nodded in understanding of this, only to duck a little when a Collector tried to hit him from behind, and that action proved to be well-chosen, as a minute after Logan had ducked, Cap's shield had soared over his head and through the Collector with ease. After throwing a thankful nod in Steve's direction, Logan looked over to Grunt and had to grin a little at the idea that just came to him, and which he had not really had much of a reason to use for quite some time. "Hey krogan," Logan called out.

"My name is Grunt," the Krogan-Hulk in question growled.

"Whatever. How's your throwing arm?"

"Huh? Uh…pretty good. Why?"

At that question, Logan had to give a grin that was a strange mix of excitement and ferocity as he asked, "You ever heard of the Fastball Special?"

Grunt had indeed heard of what Logan was talking about, having learned about it from Cap and Spidey when they were training him, and as a result, he had to give what was now becoming his signature laugh at the realization of what Wolverine was planning. A second later, Logan was flying through the air, courtesy of Grunt, until he was right on top of the praetorian. At that point, Wolverine had unsheathed his claws once again and started tearing into the massive beast from his current perch on its back, and after a constant barrage of slashing and stabbing for a few minutes, the beast started to shake under the strain and force of Logan's blows, which prompted the _Normandy_ team to take action and unleash everything they had left on the praetorian.

"Yeah! Get that crazy mother-fucker, you insane son-of-a-bitch," Jack shouted with glee when she saw that Logan was still tearing into the praetorian despite the barrage they were throwing at it. It was not until the very last second that Wolverine finally jumped off of the beast, and back into cover with the others, and it had been a good thing that he did, because seconds afterwards, the beast went up in a brilliant explosion that scattered its remains all across the area. Thankfully, none of the team were unfortunate enough to end up with any of the praetorian's remains on them when it exploded, and when they peaked out from behind their cover again they all had to breathe sighs of relief when they saw that the praetorian's destruction had seen the end of their remaining enemies as well. Another quick look around allowed everyone to see that EDI had finally gotten the anti-ship guns working, as the massive cannons were firing everything they had on the Collector ship, which easily told Steve that it was time for them to move on and see what they could find on said ship. At least, that was the plan until something that none of them wanted to happen suddenly did.

Before anyone could even think of moving towards the Collector ship, the ground suddenly started shaking, and from the way that the alien ship was glowing, it was clear that the Collectors were taking off. Seeing that they were likely a little too close to the Collector ship's engines for comfort, Cap immediately shouted for everyone to move back as far as possible just to ensure that none of them ended up being incinerated by the flames that had ignited from the ship as it started to take off. Once they were clear enough, Spider-Man, Grunt, Jacob, and Garrus were all quick to start firing on the ship in a hopeless attempt to stop the ship from leaving, only to receive the results everyone had expected such efforts would receive in the end when the ship finally blasted off into the sky and away from Horizon. Despite knowing that they had likely saved at least a few colonists from being taken by the Collectors, there was still no way for anyone to not feel a sting of defeat given how the Collectors still got away with so many of Horizon's colonists, a fact that was only enforced when Delan suddenly came running up shouting about how they could not let the Collectors get away since half the colony was in there.

"I'm sorry. This isn't how I wanted things to end up, and I really wish that we could've done more," Cap finally said to Delan once the civilian had stopped shouting in desperation long enough to listen to someone.

"You're not the only one, Cap. We blew it on this one," Spider-Man added in a downtrodden tone.

"Hey, come on, Spidey. I thought you were supposed to be the optimistic one of our little duo," Garrus lightly joked.

Hearing Garrus' words prompted a small look from Logan as he removed his cowl-like helmet to reveal his slightly graying hair to everyone, and said, "I hope I shouldn't take what your turian friend here just said to mean that you've replaced me, Web-Head."

"Trust me, Odie, there's no one in the entire galaxy that could replace the position you hold in my life. I mean, who else am I gonna go to when I need someone to mess with my fragile self-esteem and ego while threatening to gut me," Peter joked in response.

"Spidey…and Cap," Delan suddenly whispered, drawing everyone's attention to him once again as he turned around and finally took a good look at the star-spangled leader of the _Normandy_ team and the arachnid-themed hero. "Yeah, I know those names. You're supposed to be a couple of big heroes from Earth history or something."

"Not just any Earth heroes, but two of the greatest heroes, like Logan," a new, distinctively female voice clarified, leading everyone to look to where Wolverine had come from earlier just in time to see a dark haired woman in white armor with pink highlights and detailing approaching with a small smile on her face. "Captain Steven Rogers of the U.S. Armed Forces, better known as Captain America, the first Avenger. Leader of the Avengers and later director of SHIELD. Known most famously for his part in the destruction of the original HYDRA organization, defeating the Red Skull, and many other famous accomplishments. And then there's the amazing, spectacular, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Legendary hero of New York City in the Age of Marvels, the only one ever known to be able to take on groups like the Sinister Six and defeat them alone, bringing an end to the man known as Doctor Otto Octavius, and many other incredible feats that had well earned him the right to be called amazing, spectacular, and many other terms, while also proving that even when he works with the Avengers, he was still a true, New York local hero that was always dedicated to helping others no matter how small the matter may have seemed." The woman's voice clearly carried a bit of awe in it as she had recited these facts until she turned to Delan and added a slight edge to it. "You're standing the presence of living legends, Delan. You should at least show some respect, as hard as that may be for you."

While Steve did a much better job of not showing it on the outside beyond a simple smile, Spider-Man found he could not help but rub the back of his neck in slight embarrassment for the praise that this woman was giving them. Of course, such feelings quickly evaporated when Delan scowled quite a bit and huffed, "All the good people we lost, and you and your mutie boyfriend get left behind. Figures that even those monsters wouldn't want you."

Before Delan could say another word, a faint thwip sounded, and his mouth was soon completely covered by a small patch of webbing. When everyone turned to the resident web-swinger and saw him aiming his still-functioning web shooter at the man, Spidey just shrugged and asked, "Is everyone still okay with me doing that to him, because I could _not_ stop myself from webbing his mouth shut like that for a second longer."

Nobody said a word of reprimanding in response to Spider-Man's question, but instead just elected to give him grateful smiles for doing so, showing that they were all indeed completely okay with that, and with the fact that whatever Delan was saying as he stormed off was completely muffled by the webbing that he tried to get off his mouth, only to end up getting his hands stuck in the webs as well, no one could deny that Spidey had provided a very good laugh to them all. Once the irritatingly ungrateful civilian was well out of sight, Logan stepped over to his old friends with the recent arrival a short distance behind him, and smiled as he held out a hand to the super soldier of the two. "It's good to have you back, Steve. You and Web-Head over there," Logan said with honest happiness in his voice.

"It's been too long, Logan, but you're right. It is good to see you again," Steve agreed as he accepted the handshake, with Spider-Man doing the same a second later.

"Wait, that's it? You show up again after over a century and that's all you can say? How can you act like this is normal," the woman questioned in disbelief.

"Williams, try to remember who you're talking to. The three of us are from the Age of Marvels, a time when people dying and coming back to life happened quite a bit," Logan reminded his companion. He then turned back to his two friends and said, "Cap, Spidey, this is…"

"Chief Ashley Williams of the Alliance Forces. Former crew member of the _SSV Normandy SR-1_ , granddaughter of General Williams of the First Contact War of Shanxi, and overall kick-ass soldier, especially with either a sniper or an assault rifle," Garrus interrupted with a smile on his face, drawing the operations chief's attention to him the minute she heard his voice.

When her eyes landed on Garrus, it took every ounce of training she had to keep Ashley from running up and wrapping him in a tight hug, but in the end, she could not stop herself from smirking in familiarity as she walked over and exchanged her own handshake with her old turian friend before saying, "Good to see you too, Garrus. So is that an actual scar on your face, or did it just get uglier on its own?"

Garrus had to chuckle a bit at Ashley's joke before replying, "Nah, this little beauty mark is just the result of my taking a rocket from a gunship to the face after I let myself get cornered on Omega during my final days as Archangel."

Ashley had a small look of disbelief on her face once again when she heard that, but it quickly disappeared in favor of a more serious expression when Logan brought up a matter that she had been wondering about not much earlier that same day. "I've heard a lot of rumors regarding your most recent return from the dead, Cap, but I've gotta admit, the worst one I've heard was that you were working with the enemy."

"Uh, in case you hadn't noticed, we were being shot at by the Collectors just as much, if not more so, than you were, Snoopy," Spidey quipped in his usual show of wit.

"I'm not talking about those bug freaks. I meant Cerberus," Logan immediately clarified, and his gaze was soon finding its way to the likes of Miranda and Jacob, showing that he had noticed the Cerberus badges on each of their uniforms. "I didn't want to believe it was true though, but since it looks like it is, then you'd sure as hell better tell me there's a good reason for it, otherwise, you will be getting well acquainted with just how sharp my claws still are."

That easily shut up Peter completely, not just because of the threat, seeing as he had been threatened by Logan quite a few times before in the past, but because underneath it, he could detect a hint of betrayal in his old friend's tone. Apparently, Cap had been able to pick up on it as well, and immediately said, "I'm not with Cerberus, Logan. If anything, they're with me. It's because of them that I'm even alive now, and when I found out about how the Collectors are abducting the people from these human colonies and that no one else was doing anything about it…well, it was a little hard to refuse their help when they offered it."

Ashley had to step back a little in shock at hearing this, while Logan's eyes narrowed a bit in response, showing that he was not backing down that easily. "You got any idea what those bastards have done," Logan growled at Steve. "They're not just a group of xenophobic extremist nuts, they've done a lot of unspeakable things to their own kind as well including a few acts that would make even the anti-mutant psychos from back in the day seem pleasant."

"Hey Razor-Hands, you don't need to tell us about that. I'm fucking living proof that Cerberus is full of creeps that would do that kind of shit to other humans just as much as they would to aliens," Jack lightly snapped. The only reason she was not completely snapping at Logan was because even she could tell that the guy was an old friend of Cap and Spidey's, so it was really mostly out of the little respect she had developed for the two heroes than anything else.

"Oh really," Logan asked in angry disbelief. "So you've had to watch as the kids you that were under your care were snatched up in the middle of the night and taken away to be turned into experiments like you had once been, and then went after them only to find that they had slaughtered those same kids in a way that you had never hoped to see again?" Seeing that his words had effectively silenced Jack, Logan turned his attention back to Steve and asked, "How can you really trust those bastards, especially since you've seen the bigotry that mutant kind and so many others had to deal with back in the day, and that you most likely know that Cerberus are no angels on the matter?"

While most people would have backed off and cowered in response to the heated glare Logan was giving now, Steve did no such thing, partially because he had firsthand experience with dealing with Wolverine while he was this upset before, and mostly because he already had an answer to that. "Who said I did trust Cerberus," Steve finally asked after a minute of silence, drawing a surprised look from his old friend. "I've seen and heard about a few different things that the various cells in the organization have done, Logan, and I am actually disgusted with them, but right now, the Collectors are a much greater threat. Who's to say that they won't come after some of our other colonies once their done with the ones that are on the edge of the Terminus Systems, or even Earth? More importantly, just what do you think they could be doing to the people they've already taken? Let me tell you, I've thought about the latter of those two questions a dozen times over, and I've yet to come up with an answer that is anything but horrible. Right now, this team you see before you are the only ones doing anything about the matter, and the only help we've been able to get so far from the Alliance or the Citadel is my being made an unofficial Spectre, but even if I'm made to seem like the greatest evil in the entire galaxy, I'll keep fighting the good fight, just like I always have."

Logan just stood where he was in silence, staring down Captain America as he let those words process, while everyone else watched the two with baited breaths in anticipation of what would happen next. Even Spider-Man was concerned about what the mutant hero's reaction would be, seeing as he knew just how volatile Logan could get when it came to a matter he did not agree with. Probably not as well as a certain X-Man with laser eyes did, but it was still pretty well. After another few, tense minutes or so, Logan finally sighed in defeat before he said, "Well, I guess I was right. You do have a good reason for doing what you're currently doing." He then turned to walk away as he said, "Williams and I have to report back to the Citadel so I guess it'll be up to them on whether or not the rest of the wider galaxy believes your story."

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that you don't want to come with us," Cap asked, honestly having a hard time believing that Logan would not want to do what he could to help them.

"Part of me wants to, Steve, but I can't for reasons other than the fact that I don't trust Cerberus," Logan revealed. "I'm the leader of the entire mutant race now, along with every division of the X-Men, and with that comes certain limitations and responsibilities that keep me from doing whatever the hell I would want to do sometimes. If I suddenly side with a Cerberus group, even if it's yours…well, I doubt I need to tell you what would happen to the rest of the mutants in the galaxy."

Captain America did understand what Logan was getting at. If the current leader of mutant kind suddenly joined up with a group like Cerberus, then everything that Professor Xavier and the original X-Men had fought and worked so hard to achieve would likely come crashing down in flames. Despite how he started out, Logan really had come a long way from being the mindless monster he once was, and it was thanks in no small part to Xavier giving him something to really care about and fight for, so to suggest that Logan do something that would probably cause him to throw all of that away would have been like asking Cap to go back in time and prevent himself from choosing the side that he had during the Civil War event. Seeing as there was not likely going to be anyway to have Logan join the team, Steve eventually nodded in response and allowed his old friend and Williams to depart so that they could send out their reports to the Citadel.

Just before Logan was out of sight though, Spider-Man hurried over to him with a quick question that he just had to ask. "I heard a lot about Chief Williams there from Garrus, so I've got one question for you," he started in a serious tone, only to change over to a more playful one when he finally asked his question. "You two guys a thing?"

"Shut it, Web-Head, unless you want me to bring up Carol," Logan growled.

"Hey, not cool," Peter retorted, only to receive a knowing smirk from Logan in reply.

After Peter rejoined his teammates, Cap radioed the _Normandy_ and asked them to send a shuttle to pick them up, only to pause for a moment when he noticed Garrus still looking off in the direction which his old teammate had departed towards. After another minute, Steve walked over to Garrus and said, "We've got a bit of time before the shuttle gets here. If there's anything you want to talk to her about, then now's probably the best time to do so."

Garrus immediately nodded in thanks to Captain America for that and quickly hurried off after his friend so that he could do just as Steve suggested he should.

* * *

Ashley was not entirely sure what to think about what she just learned. Yes, it did hurt learning that one of her old heroes was working with an organization that she both distrusted and despised with a passion, but at the same time, it was also clear that he had his reasons, reasons that Logan seemed to be okay with and believe, so she could not really fault him for doing this, no matter how much she wanted to. It honestly made her head hurt thinking about it, so she was understandably rather snappish when Garrus finally caught up with her. "What Garrus? Didn't want to join your new Cerberus pals in their big mission," Ashley questioned, probably a little more harshly than she would normally have intended.

"First off, I don't trust Cerberus anymore than you do. I'm only with them because Spider-Man trusts Captain America, and I trust Spidey, and after seeing what these Collectors are doing firsthand, I can't really turn my back on it," Garrus retorted.

Ashley gave a small chuckle before she said, "You always were really passionate about seeing justice was done no matter what it takes, Garrus."

"Well, I think my time on Omega as Archangel would be evidence of that," Garrus quipped in response.

At that point, Ashley really did laugh a little before revealing, "I still can't believe that an old teammate and friend of mine is the vigilante that ripped off the name of one of the old X-Men from the Age of Marvels. How did that happen?"

Garrus rolled his eyes a bit at Ashley unknowingly repeating Spidey's words before saying, "Well first off, it was the people of Omega who gave me the name, so it wasn't really my choice, and as for how it happened, well the short version is that I got tired of all the red tape that had been coming up when it came to stopping criminals after I got back on the Citadel, so I went to Omega to take care of the bad guys my own way." He then paused for a minute before he finally asked the big question that had been bugging him. "How have you been doing after all these years, Ash? And I mean really, not what you lead others to believe."

Ashley had known this would have been coming ever since she saw Garrus was with the group that had recently arrived on Horizon to try and save the colony, but that did not stop her from trying to keep up the façade of seeming to be strong until she finally sighed in defeat and revealed what she had been going through since she last saw her old friend. "Honestly, I like to think I've been doing okay, but it hasn't been easy since we lost the old _Normandy_ and…and Shepard," Ashley finally admitted. "I mean, that old ship had become like a second home to me, and Shepard was more than just our commander, so you can't really expect me to say that everything's all sunshine and roses after losing both."

"I know," Garrus nodded in admittance. "I miss those days too. Sure, we had a lot of rough times, especially since we started out with the whole chase for Saren, but things eventually got to the point where we weren't just comrades in arms and squad mates. We were a solid unit that could read each other with just a simple glance. If it weren't for Shepard that probably wouldn't have ever happened."

"Not to mention, we'd probably be dealing with Reapers wiping out all life in the galaxy right now," Ashley pointed out in a small bit of good humor. "Although, I'm surprised you really feel that way, unless that sentiment doesn't extend to Wrex as well."

"No, it does," Garrus admitted. "I may be a turian, and feelings between my people and the krogan may not be that grand, but I know better than most that not all of them are bad, and it's mostly thanks to Wrex that I know that. I'm actually kind of hoping that this little adventure we're on takes us by Tuchunka at some point so I have a chance to settle our old sparring score once and for all." That got a laugh out of both of the two friends, but once he settled down from his chuckles, Garrus managed to finally bring himself to ask the other big question he had for his old friend. "We could really use you on the new _Normandy_ , Ash. There's already a couple of old faces there, but it would definitely help having you along both for your skills and so that we have someone else we trust there."

Ashley's face grew a bit somber when she heard that, and it honestly hurt her a bit to say what she had to. "I can't, Garrus, and you know why. I may not have always been the biggest fan of aliens, but I don't trust Cerberus, especially with their history of being extremists. More than that, I'm an Alliance soldier through and through. It's in my blood. Do you really think I could just throw that away?"

"No, but I had to ask, regardless," Garrus admitted. "Just take care of yourself Ash, and try not to end up on any other colonies that may be targeted by the Collectors."

Ashley nodded in response to Garrus' warning, and then indulged herself in the impulse she had suppressed earlier by wrapping the turian in a tight hug. Garrus was a bit surprised by her sudden display of affection, but still recovered quickly enough to return said hug as his old friend softly said, "You do the same, Garrus. Whatever you're going to be doing with these guys, get it done, and make sure you come home."

"I'll…do my best," Garrus hesitantly replied, not wanting to tell Ashley that they were on a suicide mission to stop the Collectors for good because of how much he was sure it would upset her. After another minute, the two released each other from their embrace and allowed one another to depart for their respective teams, each feeling that they had both had enough of this particular colony for a long time, and that sentiment was easily shared by Logan and the rest of the new _Normandy_ team as well, even if it was not entirely for all the same reasons.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay so, that all happened. One of the things I like to think that the mission to Horizon would tell us is that it reveals to our heroes just how tough their fight against the Collectors is really going to be, so I made sure to play that up a little bit when I was writing this chapter. One way I did so was by having the Collectors and their new husks destroy one of Spidey's web shooters and one of his new repulsor gauntlets, of course, that was also because one of Spidey's big weaknesses is that his web shooters do get damaged or run out of web fluid at inconvenient times. That's always been a thing, unless of course, you have him be able to make the webs himself, which is a bad idea unless the Spider-Man is someone like Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man of 2099. Another example of stuff I did to show how tough the team would have it would be how the Collectors were able to see Kasumi even when she was invisible, and if you know your Mass Effect history, I'm sure you can figure out why that is. If you can't, then here's a hint, it involves Javik._**

 ** _Now, I'm sure you all noticed how Ashley and Logan did not really lay into Cap for siding with Cerberus like how the former did with Shepard in ME2. The reason for this is almost entirely because Logan knows Captain America, he's fought alongside him many times before, and I made sure to indicate that Ashley respects Logan's opinion about such things, so since Cap gave Wolverine a very good reason for being with Cerberus, who was Ashley to argue with that. Speaking of which, just so there's no confusion, yes, Logan and Ashley are going to be a thing later on down the line, but you probably won't see much of that until the sequel of this story._**

 ** _While we're on the subject of pairings though, I hope you'll all note earlier how I thanked "kival737101" for helping me to resolve a problem I had, and I'm now revealing what that problem is now. You see, even during the planning stages of this story, I had a hard time deciding on whether I would pair Spider-Man up with the illustrious Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, or the loyal Alliance soldier Ashley Williams. I mean, both had quite a few points in their favor, and with such a small amount of negative points as far as I could see, the final decision wasn't easy. At least, until a certain review gave me the idea of having Ashley pair up with Wolverine, so thanks again for that kival!_**

 ** _Also, I hope you all noticed how Grunt lost control of himself earlier and it took a very strict and very loud order from Captain America to get him to cool it. That was actually inspired by something I saw the series Avengers Assemble, and I'm sure you all noticed some of the other Marvel references in there as well, one of the most memorable being the Fastball Special._**

 ** _On a final note, before anyone goes bitching to me about how Wolverine shouldn't have been affected by the seeker swarms, I just want to point out that he did not get bitten by those stupid bugs once or even twice, but multiple times over, and there's only so much that a mutant healing factor can do when your being overwhelmed by something like that. Plus, if the Collectors have been abducting citizens of human colonies, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that they had gotten a few mutants with some variety of healing powers in the mix as well, and...well, like it was said in an earlier chapter of the story, no one really knows that much about the Collectors period, and it is now quite clear that they work for the Reapers, so I'd say it's not much of stretch that they would posses the ability to make sure that Wolverine could be affected._**

 ** _Now with all of that out of the way, Onto the Preview with you lot!..._**

 ** _The mission to Horizon has left the_** **Normandy _team feeling rather discouraged and downtrodden, which is understandable, seeing as they now knew just how greatly outmatched they were against even a small force of Collectors, and the things that Captain America learned from the Illusive Man after giving his report to Cerberus' leader does not really help the super soldier's mood all that greatly. Hoping to bring up the squad's morale even a little, Cap leads some of the team on a mission to bring in another potential recruit, who also happens to be another old face from the original_ Normandy _team: Tali'Zorah Vas Neema. Of course, what none of them expect is for the quarian engineer to be in geth space or to be under heavy fire from the synthetics. Just what are the quarians doing on Haestrom, and does the team stand a chance of reaching them before it's too late? Find out next time._**

 ** _Yep, back to the recruitment drive stuff in the next chapter, but hey, it's also the mission to get our favorite quarian on board for the ride, so that's gotta count for something in my favor, right? Anyway..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	10. Regaining Fighting Spirit

_**AN: Hey guys, it's lyokoMARVELanime coming at you with another chapter for Avenging Normandy and saying, Happy 4th of July everyone!**_

 _ **[cue holiday appropriate music]**_

 _ **AN: Ah yes, what better story to update on such a grand holiday than a Captain America story. Almost makes me sad that I'm not able to update all my Captain America related stories today, but what're ya gonna do, right?**_

 _ **Now I know you all remember what happened last chapter, right? Horizon mission, encounter with Wolverine, and all that fun stuff that has probably left everyone a little disheartened. Well, I'm not gonna bore you with a total reminder and bring down the mood of this great holiday by doing so. Instead, I'm gonna try and answer a few reviews. Hopefully doing so won't be leave anyone upset today. EDI?**_

 _ **EDI: I am wondering why you cannot simply have someone else help with this such as Jeff or Captain Rogers.**_

 _ **AN: Because neither of them is currently just a ship-board AI in this story, no offense. Now, please?**_

 _ **EDI: Very well, and no offense taken. First off is a question that I believe you wish to address are some from "HaywireEagle"**_

 _ **AN: Right. [mutters] Have we had a chapter where I haven't had some kind of debate with him lately? [resumes normal voice] Anyway, you're probably right about it being pointless to argue the Krogan-Hulk thing, because it's clear we're never going to agree on that. As for the Ash/Logan relationship, if you're going to play the relationship gap card, then I'm gonna have to remind you that there was a relationship gap between Logan and pretty much every woman he's ever been with or was just interested in in the comics, be it Jean Grey, Storm, or anyone else in Marvel comics, so that argument doesn't really hold much weight here. And thanks for the suggestion about the scene between Kelly and Miranda. If I can work it or something similar in, I will definitely try to do so, but I think I may already have in this chapter.**_

 _ **EDI: Next is a question from "Allard-Liao", asking who else from the Wolverine Family is still alive, which relates to a similar question from "redx1221" about Deadpool and whether or not he's still alvie.  
**_

 _ **AN: In answer to the latter question, yes Deadpool is alive, but no he will not be showing up in this story unless I believe it otherwise necessary. As for the rest of the Wolverine family, if Logan has survived up until now, then surely that would suggest the others have to. Whether or not they appear later on is still to be determined, but I might try to find some way to work in X-23.**_

 _ **Anything else?**_

 _ **EDI: There was a suggestion from the guest reviewer "Ghostalker" regarding an upgarde for Tali and regarding Venom.**_

 _ **AN: The suggestion for Tali does sound intriguing, but whether or not I actually end up using it remains to be seen at this time. As for Venom...I'll have to think about that a little bit, because to me, Venom's always been this rampaging nutcase who wants nothing more than to ruin and kill Spider-Man, with the only exception being Agent Venom.**_

 _ **EDI: I believe that the only other thing that you wanted to address is the question from "Natzi Sumbitch" regarding...**_

 _ **AN: Stop! Don't finish that sentence; I already know what you're going to say, and I will not allow anyone to say it if I can help it. In answer though, NO, such a blasphemous concept shall never affect this or any Captain America story I write, and I agree with you completely. That is completely messed up crap they're trying to pull, and if they think that they can actually make it stick for long, and on the year of Captain America's 75th anniversary, then they must be insane! To even suggest such a thing is possible, would be to destroy everything that Cap has ever stood for and symbolized since he was first created 75 years ago!**_

 _ **Well, that's my rant for the day, though I was hoping to avoid that, but I certainly think I've made my point clear on the blasphemous crap idea, so I'm going to let you guys get to the story now. Have fun reading about the adventures on Haestrom!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Regaining Fighting Spirit**

The general feeling on the ship was most definitely not a positive one, to say the least. Ever since what happened on Horizon, the team's attitude and morale was at an all time low, a feeling that had spread to the rest of the crew, but no one could really fault them for feeling that way. This was the team's first real encounter with the enemy that they were assembling together to face, and a good deal of them had been given a very large eye-opener on the mission to Horizon, one that had left some of them feeling more than a little rattled. Discovering a person's limits was always a good thing to know so that they could improve for later, but when they were exposed in the way that the team's limits had been, it was very difficult to see such things very clearly. This of course was without taking into account the attitude that had consumed the new _Normandy_ 's captain after his most recent discussion with the Illusive Man.

After he had returned to the ship and changed out of his armor in exchange for his usual red, white, and blue suit, Captain America had immediately gotten in touch with the Illusive Man to give his own views on how things had gone on Horizon, partially because he had a few suspicions about the whole thing. The main reason for his suspicion was that it was a little too coincidental that both an old friend of his and a member of the previous _Normandy_ 's crew were on a colony that had been attacked by the Collectors, and there was also the fact that Logan had said there were rumors about him and Cerberus being together, so naturally, the super soldier was more than a little suspicious of the man leading the terrorist group. Those suspicions were quickly proven true when the Illusive Man admitted to throwing out a few "carefully disguised rumors" about him being alive, working for Cerberus, and recruiting members of Shepard's old crew, all because he suspected that the Collectors might have been looking for people connected to the late commander or even information on the new _Normandy_ and its captain, as well as anyone who may have a connection to him. This little mission may have proven that such an idea may have been true, but that still meant that the Illusive Man had deliberately lured the Collectors out of hiding for the sake of curiosity. If it were not for the fact that he needed Cerberus and the Illusive Man's resources right now, Captain America would have told the man to shove it and gone his own way, and frankly, he was not sure whether or not he was still seriously considering it.

Not only had the Illusive Man practically set things up so that they would definitely encounter the Collectors, but during the conversation the two had, he had the gall to question the resolve of both Cap's team and Captain America himself in whether or not they would be able to carry out their suicide mission to beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Steve was well aware that there would be no going back once they went through that relay, so he did not need this man of mystery telling him of such things or that he needed to make sure his team was fully committed for this assignment. This was a fact that he made well-known to the Illusive Man by telling him to let him worry about his team while Cerberus' leader dealt with finding a way to the Collector home world. Still, making sure his team would be ready was probably easier said than done right now, given all that had happened back on Horizon.

Jack was a bit rattled over how she had actually reached her limit on what she could do with her biotics, Kasumi was likely traumatized by the fact that someone had seen through her cloak, all of Jacob's work on the ground team's weapons and armor seemed to have been barely enough to keep them alive, Grunt had nearly lost control of himself in the heat of the moment, and that was really just the things that Cap had been able to note. The entire group was discouraged by what they had learned from that mission, and there was very little doubt in Captain America's mind that they were all now well aware of just how great the chances they would not be coming back from the mission to the Collector homeworld were. Needless to say, Cap's show of confidence to the Illusive Man when it came to his team was probably more of an act than the super soldier cared to admit. There was a very strong chance that his team's fighting spirit was broken because of all this. With all of these factors in mind, it was really no surprise that Steve had gone straight up to the captain's quarters to stew a little after he ended his conversation with the Illusive Man.

Steve did not know what the captain's quarters on the _Normandy SR-1_ were like, but he had been told by Garrus that his were a very vast improvement in comparison after he had invited the turian sniper up for a quick talk once. In all honesty, Steve felt that his quarters were like something you would find in a five-star hotel with how fancy it was. The place not only made up almost all of Deck 1 on the ship, but it also had a really nice bed, a desk, a private bathroom with a shower, couches, a closet, and even a fish tank. Why anyone would need that last one on a ship like the _Normandy_ , Steve was not entirely sure, but he was not going to complain about now nice the accommodations were in comparison to what he would have expected or even preferred. Honestly, he would have preferred something a little more Spartan and with just the bare essentials, but again, given what likely went into making all of this, he was not going to complain. At least he had all this space to himself in order to help him get his thoughts together about things, be it the information he had recently learned, or even just in general.

The super soldier was eventually stirred from his thoughts when someone knocked at the door to his very nice quarters, prompting him to stand up from the couch where he was currently seated and call out, "Who is it?"

"It's Miranda, Captain," the voice of Steve's XO replied. "May I come in? There's some things I wanted to talk with you about."

Seeing as he had no real reason to not allow the genetically perfect woman in at the moment, Steve swiftly replied, "Yes, come in."

Once the door had whooshed open, the brunette stepped into the room with a datapad in hand, and her eyes glued to the object in question as she briskly got right down to business. "I've been looking over the most recent dossiers that the Illusive Man had sent over, and I must admit, I'm a bit surprised by one of them in particular considering that it speaks of more than one person," Miranda stated. "I'd appreciate your opinion on who we should consider going to recruit first, if you don't mind."

"Fine, if you really think so," Steve replied a little more shortly and snappish than he had meant to, but at the moment, he was still a bit too upset to really care that much.

Steve's curt tone was not missed by Miranda, but then again, it was hard for her to miss a lot of different things; probably one of the few things she could give her father credit for that she was actually thankful about. Upon finally looking up from the datapad, it did not take long for her to realize just how upset Steve really was, and that he was holding a great deal of his ill feelings in just because he had company at the moment. Setting the datapad aside on the desk, Miranda immediately walked over, determined to find out what was wrong with the captain, if for no other reason, than to make sure that his ill feelings would not affect any upcoming missions they would have. That really was the only reason for her concern at the moment, or at least, that would be what she was telling herself despite a small voice in her head that was telling her otherwise for reasons she could not understand.

"Rogers…Cap," Miranda started, thinking that using a more familiar form of address would help ease him into conversation. "Have I done anything recently to offend you in some way?"

Miranda was not entirely sure why she had worded the question in that way, but it was not like she could take it back now, and it seemed to be a good starting point given that Steve responded rather quickly to it. "You? No of course not. Your boss, on the other hand, is another story entirely."

The tone may have been just as curt as it was earlier, but at least now Miranda had some idea as to why Steve was in such a bad mood. "Would you mind telling me exactly what is wrong," Miranda asked as she moved to sit down next to him.

"That depends," Steve replied. "Did you know anything about it?"

"About what, exactly," Miranda prompted.

"That your boss had sent out a few disguised rumors about my return from the dead in an attempt to lure the Collectors out and practically set Horizon up as a proving ground for us," Steve revealed.

That ended up being the thing that shocked Miranda, and it must have shown on her face, because Steve's posture seemed to relax a little more shortly after he had revealed what he did. After taking a moment to quickly recompose herself, Miranda swiftly replied, "I didn't know about that. I had a feeling that he might try to send out a few well-hidden stories about you being back in an attempt to keep the Collectors on their toes and make them more cautious about attacking our colonies, but I never thought that could be his goal."

"Miranda, the man endangered the lives of those colonists just to test a _theory_ of his, and look at what's happened as a result," Steve exclaimed, clearly going into a rant. "Half of another colony is on its way to wherever the Collectors are taking them, for a purpose that we still don't know the exact nature of, and not only that, but the team has suffered a serious blow to their morale because of what had happened on Horizon. As if that wasn't enough, to top it off, the man had the gall to question our resolve in regards to this mission. I realize that it'll be asking a lot when we finally move to head for the Collector homeworld, but that doesn't give him the right to question whether or not I believe everyone is willing to give their lives for this cause when they were all well aware of the risks when they signed up."

Miranda just let Steve vent out his frustrations in silence, and when he finally finished, she decided that now was as good a time to try and reason with him as any, and said, "I understand how you feel, Cap, but you have to understand it from his perspective. If there was a chance that he was right, then it was better to find out this way than through some random attack where we weren't able to respond as quickly. The Illusive Man prefers to look at the larger picture, and that's helped Cerberus in more ways than one over the years."

"Nick Fury also preferred to look at the bigger picture, but he never risked innocent lives like this," Steve pointed out.

"I know, but things aren't as…simple as they were back in the Age of Marvels, for lack of a better word," Miranda argued. Seeing that her words were not doing much to help the captain feel any better, Miranda opted for another approach, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder as she said, "Cap, I honestly don't like what he did anymore than you do, but you can't deny that it has given us new information that we didn't have before which will make stopping the Collectors happen a lot sooner. More importantly, there's also a chance that we can still save those people that were taken if we act fast enough."

"What makes you so sure we can do that," Steve asked softly.

"Because we're being led by Captain America," Miranda replied in full seriousness, but there was still no hiding an undercurrent of playful joking in her voice when she had said that.

Apparently, Miranda's response had the desired effect, as Steve soon found the corners of his lips turning upwards into a smile, which actually drew a small smile from Miranda as well. Both smiles quickly vanished when they noticed how Miranda's hand was still on Steve's shoulder and that they had actually moved much closer to each other than they were before, and upon reaching this realization, Miranda quickly withdrew her hand just seconds before they scooted away from one another as quickly as they could without seeming like they had not done so casually. When an awkward air of silence started to fall into the room, Miranda and Steve quickly started glancing around for something that could help distract them both from what had just happened until Steve's eyes finally found the previously discarded datapad. "Uh…you said something about discussing which recruitment mission we should consider taking up next?"

"Uh, yes. That's right," Miranda quickly nodded in reply as she quickly scooped up the datapad with all the grace she could muster while not seeming like she was in a hurry to end the awkwardness. Once she had the datapad in hand, Miranda held the object towards Steve while saying, "About the blow to the team's morale, I think that going through a very simple mission like perhaps one of these recruitment missions might be just what they all need to get back to their old selves, or at least as close as they could be at the moment."

Steve immediately started looking over the various files that were on the datapad, not just because he was hoping to avoid looking at Miranda's rather lovely eyes that were a very beautiful shade of light blue that seemed to flow like a calm sea, and this is not the point he was trying to make. He put as much attention as he could on the files while in close proximity to the very beautiful woman in the room until one particular file's name stuck out to him and drew his attention away from Miranda almost completely. When Miranda noticed he had paused in his thoughts, she had a feeling he had found a file that had caught his interest, and that was quickly confirmed when he stood up and started heading for the door, prompting her to follow after him in an instant. Once they were both in the elevator, Steve finally returned his attention to Miranda and said, "You're actually right about how going to recruit another team member would be a good way to reignite everyone's fighting spirit, and I think I just found the perfect mission out of all these assignments to do just that."

"Just tell me who you think we'll need, and I'll assemble the team right away then," Miranda nodded in response.

"Definitely Garrus and Grunt on this one. I'll also want you and Spider-Man down there with me as well, but in the case of the latter, it'll depend on how much of his equipment he's managed to repair," Steve informed Miranda.

"Meaning," Miranda asked, wanting Steve to clarify on his minimum requisites regarding the web-swinger.

"If he at least has two working web shooters, then he's on the mission," Steve explained.

Miranda nodded just as they reached the crew deck, which was actually her stop, but that still left one question. "Where exactly will we be heading?"

"We're going to Haestrom," Steve replied with a small smirk, instantly telling Miranda who they would be recruiting this time around. The genetically perfect woman just nodded in reply and then walked out of the elevator so that she could track down the team members Cap had requested, but had to pause for a moment when Steve called out to her again. "Thanks…for the talk."

Miranda could not really explain why an honest, kind smile had reached her face when she heard that, but she did not really care at the moment, and she swiftly turned around to show Steve said smile as she said, "You're welcome, Cap."

Steve was glad that the elevator was so slow, because it allowed him a moment to fall back against the wall when the doors shut, as there was something about that smile Miranda had just given him that made him feel like all feeling in his legs had just disappeared. Thankfully, he was able to use the back wall for support until he regained feeling in his legs again, and he was extremely thankful to have done so before the elevator came to a stop at Deck 2 and the CIC, where it seemed that Yeoman Kelly Chambers, Cap's current administrative assistant and the unofficial ship's psychologist was waiting for him. Given the nervous look on Kelly's face, it was clear that there was something on the yeoman's mind that she felt that she just had to speak with Steve about, and Cap was not one to ignore that type of thing.

"Is something on your mind, Kelly," Steve inquired.

"Actually sir, I was hoping to talk to you about the Horizon mission," Kelly stated, only to cringe a little when she saw that how Steve's face fell into a small scowl the minute she mentioned the previous mission. "It's just that…I'm worried about how the crew's morale has fallen after what had happened, and I also saw in the report that Ashley Williams and Admiral Logan Howlet were there as well. I just wanted to hear how things went from your perspective on that and inform of you the current distress that I've sensed from the rest of the crew."

"You don't really need to tell me about the fall in crew morale, Kelly; I'm already well aware, and I have a plan in place on how to resolve that matter," Steve reassured the redhead. "As for my own feelings regarding those meetings, I never really knew Williams, so I can't really say much in that regard one way or the other. I won't deny that it was good to see Logan again, but part of me does wish he could've joined us on this mission. Still, he has his own responsibilities to look after now, so I have to respect that. There's nothing else to say on that matter."

"I understand, sir," Kelly nodded before turning back to her console after giving Steve a quick salute. "Still, I'll be here if you need me. Although, I would recommend telling Mister Parker to speak with me when he has a chance. He seems like he has a few issues that he needs to talk about."

Steve could not help the chuckle that had escaped from him when he heard that, and when Kelly gave him an odd look in response, he immediately stated, "Trust me, Kelly, Spidey's got a lot more issues than I think any therapist would be able to handle, but he'll be able to handle it on his own. I know that for a fact."

Kelly elected to just take Steve at his word on the matter and simply resumed what she was doing before, allowing Steve to make his way up to the cockpit for a quick chat with his pilot, and so that he could inform Joker of their next destination. "So, how're things managing for one of the best ship pilots in the galaxy at the moment," Steve asked once he was standing before Joker.

Joker's first response was to spin his chair around and immediately start shushing Steve like he was warning the captain to keep quiet, gaining him a confused look from the super soldier. "I can tell when it's listening," Joker quietly warned Steve as he glanced around like he was looking out for someone, but Steve had quickly figured out who he was talking about the minute he had spoken.

 **"I am always listening, Mister Moreau,"** EDI reminded the pilot, confirming Steve's suspicions for him.

"I know," Joker groaned in annoyance. "Anyways, Cap, it's uh…pretty crazy the people you can run into out here, huh? I mean it was probably a set-up or something, but it must've been pretty good to see your old pal Wolverine…I mean, Admiral Howlet, right? Plus you got to meet Ash…I mean Operations Chief Williams, so that must've been fun too."

"It was nice to meet Ashley Williams, and it was good to see Logan again, but they've both moved on from the lives they once led alongside us, Joker. Can't really fault them for that," Steve reassured Joker.

Apparently, Joker was not going to leave it at that, as he quickly protested, "Are you kidding me? Wolverine was frontline with you since like, what World War II? And he then went on to help you with blowing up half of Utopia to stop the Phoenix Five and whatever else the galaxy threw at Earth, and Ash was frontline with Shepard blowing up half the Citadel, and yet I'm the one who gets roped back in to saving the galaxy?! What did someone switch our files or something?"

Steve was able to see that Joker was living up to his nickname and not being serious in his little rant even without that last comment, but it was still clear that Joker needed a little cheering up right now, so he eventually said, "Like I said, Logan's got more important things to take care of that make it so that we'll have something to come back home to, and besides, it's guys like you that end up becoming the force that keeps it all together. Sometimes that's more important than how good of a fighter you are."

"Yeah well it still kinda sucks, if I'm being perfectly honest," Joker grumbled, once again in a non-serious way seeing as he was not able to hide the smile on his face at all. "So, is there something you needed, Cap, or did you really just come up here for a chat?"

"You're actually right on both accounts," Steve replied. "I need you to lay in a course for Haestrom."

That made Joker pause in silence for a minute, until he finally asked, "And we're going to a planet that's smack in the middle of Geth Space, because…"

"Because that's where we'll be most likely to find our next recruit," Steve answered. He then had to smirk a little at the next thing he told the pilot. "And I think you and a few other crewmembers are going to like this one."

"And why's that," Joker asked.

"She's a member of your old crew," Steve revealed.

The minute Joker heard that particular piece of information, he did not hesitate to start beaming in excitement as he spun his chair back around to its usual position and begin punching in the necessary commands to set the ship on its new course. "Hold tight then, because I'll have us there before you can say homecoming."

Steve just nodded in reply to Joker's declaration, and immediately turned to make his way back over to the Galaxy Map so that he could determine how long it would take for them to reach their destination for himself, and thus figure out how long he had to personally prepare for their next mission. Even though he knew the chances were not very high, he was still hoping that the upcoming mission would be a simple one with nothing complicated getting in the way.

* * *

Even with everything that had happened on Horizon, there could have been at least a little more confidence in the air, or at least faked confidence as the team descended from the _Normandy_ to the surface of Haestrom. Even Grunt was a bit more subdued than he usually was, but it was still not by that much. It would have been a little easier to deal with if Spider-Man was not being so quiet for once, and that was actually a rather scary thought to Miranda. She actually _wanted_ Peter Parker to talk more right now, but instead, they were being treated to a rare moment of silence from the web-head at a moment when some of them wanted him to ramble on or even tell just one bad joke; it was like there was just no way to win with the guy. Still, at least there was some excitement in the air regarding their current mission, most of which was coming from their resident turian.

The minute that Garrus had heard that the next person they were going to recruit would be Tali he had insisted that he come along on the mission before he was even told that he was going to be on it any way. This had given Peter ample opportunity to tease his calibrating obsessed friend for said excitement, and while he could not be entirely certain of it, Steve could have sworn that he had seen the turian variety of a blush forming on Garrus' face at some points. Surprisingly, not even mentioning Captain Marvel had managed to get Peter to stop teasing Garrus about how excited he was to see his old, quarian teammate, but Peter did finally stop when Garrus threatened to make him do another song-and-dance performance for everyone on the _Normandy_. Needless to say though, Garrus was not the only one who was excited about the chance of bringing another member of the previous _Normandy_ 's crew aboard, so Cap was taking that as a good sign as to whether or not this mission would serve its second purpose of bringing up the crew's morale.

This secondary objective was not really helped by the fact that only one of Miranda's additional decisions for the team this time around was still not up for mission duty, at least from some perspectives. Miranda had initially wanted to add Kasumi to the line-up for this mission, but according to Peter, the klepto had not left her room once since returning to the ship from Horizon, and given how Kasumi normally moved about the ship while using her cloak for whatever reason that only she could really understand, along with what had happened on the last mission when she had done so, Steve could not really say he was all that surprised that Kasumi was at least a little nervous about using her cloaking device again anytime soon. As a result of this, the only addition that Miranda was able to make to the team's line-up was by bringing Mordin along for the ride. The salarian professor had tried to say that he needed to remain on the ship to make some small adjustments to the countermeasure he had developed for the Collectors' seeker swarms, but both Steve and Miranda had insisted that so long as it was working for the moment, then he really had no actual excuse to not join the team on a mission anymore. Thankfully, this was a line of thinking that Mordin did not disagree with. All the team had to worry about now at this point was avoiding the geth and finding the quarian engineer in question.

At least, that was what they were thinking until they finally reached the planet's surface and the shuttle sent back some readings that EDI felt the need to warn everyone about. **_"Rogers, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins. There is considerable geth activity and an environmental hazard. Solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom's protective magnetosphere. Exposure to direct sunlight will damage your kinetic shields. Subsequently, anyone without such shields will be subject to suffering from severe…"_**

"Let me guess, there's a chance that we're going to get a really nasty sunburn that'll likely kill us, right," Spider-Man interrupted in a joking manner, finally putting an end to his prolonged silence at last when he did.

 ** _"In the simplest of terms, that is correct, Spider-Man,"_** EDI confirmed.

"Great. Where's Johnny Storm or Bobby Drake when you need 'em," Peter quipped an instant later.

"Wait! I think I know these guys," Garrus exclaimed. "Nobody tell me…I know it, I know it…that's uh…Fire Man and the Icicle?"

"Close, but good guess. Correct identification actually Human Torch and Iceman, members of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, respectively," Mordin corrected.

"Either way, we'll need to stay out of any direct sunlight while we're here," Miranda remarked, bringing everyone back on track.

"Of course, but that doesn't mean it will be possible to do so the entire time, so nobody step out of any form of shade unless absolutely necessary, understood," Captain America asked. The positive responses he received in confirmation of his orders were quickly punctuated by the shuttle touching down on Haestrom's surface, and soon after, the doors had opened to deposit the team onto the surface beneath them. Just before she had stepped out though, Miranda found herself being stopped by Steve, who had a concerned look on his face. "Are you sure you'll be protected enough from the sun?"

Miranda knew that Steve's question was driven mostly from the fact that she was still wearing her usual white and black cat suit, and while she appreciated his concern for her, she was still a bit irritated by it as well. "My suit is actually a flexible armor of my own design with high-level kinetic barriers. Trust me, Captain, I'm very well protected."

"Just making sure," Steve reassured Miranda. "Wouldn't want to lose one of my teammates because they weren't careful before going out into the sun."

Miranda could not stop herself from smiling just a little even if she wanted to, but she easily hid it from Steve by turning away and jumping off the shuttle so she could catch up with the rest of the team, with Captain America following right behind her and the shuttle taking off to return to the ship after they had disembarked. Everyone found out quickly enough that EDI was correct in her warning on how Haestrom's sun would affect their shields the minute they had step out of any shade that the planet could have provided, as they quickly heard their shields sizzling under the extreme heat of the sun like bacon in a frying pan. Luckily there was a very large amount of shade close by that they were all able to quickly duck into before they finally found a door that would lead them inside the ruins that lay before them, or at least, a large structure that they all assumed to be ruins. After everyone had assumed a guarded position on either side of the door, thinking they should be ready for any kind of ambush just to be safe, Cap signaled for Garrus to open it up, admitting them entrance inside, but when they turned around to see what was in there, they were greeted with a much more terrible sight than a small army of geth.

Inside the room that they were just admitted to, was the body of a dead quarian lying against the wall opposite of a very large, robotic body that could only have been one of the geth. The sight of death and destruction was always something that Captain America hated to see, and despite the passive looks some of his teammates held, it was clear that they were all just as upset by the sight as he was. After a moment of looking over the bodies of the two deceased combatants in silence, Garrus finally said, "At least he took a Geth Destroyer with him. You've gotta give him credit for that if nothing else."

Steve did not really know just how significant that could have really been, seeing as he had only read the most basic of information on the geth up until now, but if Garrus' statement was anything to go by, that was certainly an accomplishment to be praised. Before Steve could ask to be sure though, Spider-Man had eyed the terminal that the quarian was lying next to and called out, "Hey guys! I think our friend left a message for anyone who came through here."

Looking to the terminal, Miranda was able to confirm that Spidey was right in what he said, as the quarian had indeed left an audio message before he died, and after a few quick keystrokes on her omni-tool, they were all soon listening to what were probably the quarian's last words before he died. _"Emergency log entry: the geth are here. I stayed to buy the others time. Anyone who gets this, find Tali'Zorah. She and the data are all that matters. Keelah se'lai."_

Everyone was silent for a minute after listening to the message, until Grunt finally commented, "Well…this guy certainly seems like he had a quad on him."

"We'll have time to praise the dead for their accomplishments later. Right now, we've got to get to Tali and any other quarians who may still be alive on this rock. Let's move out," Captain America ordered while moving his shield onto his left arm, and everyone instantly fell in step behind him as he approached the door that would lead them further inside.

Barely a minute after stepping out of the room they were just in, the sound of a ship's engines reached their ears, drawing Garrus' attention upwards to a sight that he had long since thought he would not be seeing again for a long time. "Incoming geth drop-ship," the turian shouted just as said ship started sending down geth troopers that were instantly arming themselves for battle.

"Take them out as fast as possible! We've got to get to Tali and her team," Cap shouted as he grabbed his shield with his right hand, spun around, and tossed it towards the nearest geth. The vibranium disk easily sliced its way through its target before rebounding off a large block of stone that was behind it and into the side of another geth, which was quickly finished off by a few quick shots from Cap's pistol, and that turned out to be the signal for both sides to cut loose.

While the geth troopers just acted like robots in their retaliation by moving in various directions while shooting at them, the _Normandy_ team took a much more inventive approach to their attack. Miranda was the first to land a finishing strike after Captain America by using her biotics to send a geth flying and then finishing off both it and the one who was standing next it with her SMG, while Mordin quickly used his omni-tool to launch an explosive plasma-round at a small gathering standing on the opposite end of the battlefield that Miranda's targets were on. Grunt's approach was much more straight-forward, as he simply charged any geth that he could and smashed them apart before finishing off any who survived his charge with his shotgun, be it by hitting them with said weapon or flat out shooting them.

The only one who could really say that he was struggling at the moment was Spider-Man. Given that he had to stick to the shadows, Spidey found himself unable to use his usual range of movements and attacks unless he was sure that he could get through the sunlit areas fast enough. This was made even more difficult by the fact that a good deal of his webbing went up in smoke if it was exposed to those same areas, but that was especially so in the case of the webs he fired from his right web shooter, since he was using one of his older models in place of the one that was damaged on Horizon. The web shooter in question did not have any of the new technology that his current ones possessed, and was also not quite as resistant to blunt strength, but the fact that it gave him a full arsenal of webs was certainly better than nothing for both Peter and everyone else. Of course, he did not have a spare repulsor gauntlet, so he was still currently only able to use the one on his right arm, and as a result, his offensive capabilities were even more limited than they normally were right now. Then again, if there was one thing that Spider-Man excelled at, it was defying the odds even when they were against him.

Peter easily proved that fact true when he leaped into action and fired his substitute web shooter at the closest geth. The web was briefly exposed to the sunlight before it hit Peter's target, but that was actually just what the spectacular Spider-Man was aiming for, because when the enflamed web hit the geth he was aiming at, it ended up burning through the geth trooper's shields and a bit of its armor, leaving it open for a finishing blow from Spidey's lone repulsor. The next time he fired one of his web shooters, it was from his usual one, and an Electro-Web connected to a geth, which Spidey then pulled into the geth near it, shorting out both of the troopers' electrical systems and rendering them unable to fight. Spidey was about to leap to another location, when he suddenly heard Garrus calling out to him, drawing his attention over to the turain, who was holding his sniper at the ready.

"Spidey, swing high," Garrus shouted, and Peter instantly grinned behind his helmet, knowing what Garrus meant when he said that. A second later, Spider-Man was spinning through the air once again, only this time, he managed to snag a geth trooper with a web line, and when he landed again, in a position that placed him directly behind said geth, Spidey pulled on the web as hard as he could, lifting the synthetic into the air where it was soon blown apart by a single shot from Garrus' rifle.

In no time at all, the geth troopers were all dealt with, leaving the area clear of hostiles and the team a chance to catch their breathes. "Well that was just too ea…" Grunt started to say, only to be interrupted by a frantic cry from the web-swinger of the team.

"NO! Don't finish saying that," Spider-Man cried out.

"Why not? It won't change the fact that fight was too…"

"STOP TRYING TO SAY THAT," Spider-Man frantically begged.

"Please explain reason for distress, Spider-Man," Mordin requested. "As Grunt has attempted to state, confrontation not difficult."

"Exactly," Grunt started.

"Oh no; don't say it, don't say it, don't say it," Spider-Man softly begged. "Bad enough that Mordin sort of did, but we really don't need anyone to actually say the words."

"That whole fight was too easy," Grunt finally stated aloud for all to hear.

Barely seconds later, Spider-Man let out a wine of misery as he cried, "Damn it, he said it!"

"Is there a problem over there," Cap asked as he moved over to the three's position.

"Grunt just said something that'll endanger the mission," Spider-Man instantly replied in a tattle-tale tone.

"What? I just said that the fight was too easy," Grunt explained, drawing another frantic wave of Spider-Man's arms while looks of worry and understanding dawned on everyone else.

"Grunt, didn't you already learn that it is a universal rule that you never say something like that out loud. Ever," Garrus explained to the Krogan-Hulk.

"Why," Grunt asked.

"Because something bad or worse than what you're already dealing with always happens," Captain America explained in a serious tone.

"I'm pretty sure that's just a superstition," Miranda scoffed.

"It's not, or did you forget about what happened on the last mission when Grunt said it," Spider-Man immediately replied.

"Perhaps it would be wise to move on before evidence that proves point comes to us," Mordin suggested, and no one was willing to argue with that sentiment, but mostly because they still had a mission to complete.

* * *

Thankfully, the team's encounters with the geth did not get much worse, despite what Grunt had said about that first encounter, but they were all still rather simple to deal with, almost as though any sense of self-preservation the geth had possessed before had become non-existent. This was only further confirmed when Garrus revealed that the geth were much less difficult to deal with than they were when he and the rest of the old _Normandy_ crew were fighting against Saren, but no one was complaining about this fact that much. The only thing that anyone could really complain about was the lack of quarians that they had encountered since arriving here. It was clear as day from the moment they found that first quarian that Tali was not the only one of her people that was on Haestrom, but so far, they had not found any other quarians at all. That eventually changed when they entered the next corridor and found a small group of quarians lying dead on their sides, their weapons no longer of any help to them, much to their sorrow. Seeing that they were only finding deceased members of the envirosuit-wearing aliens, Garrus was beginning to fear for Tali's current condition when they all suddenly heard a voice coming from close by, and from the sound of how distorted it was, it was clear that it was coming through one of the deceased quarians' radios.

 _"The geth sent a drop ship towards OP-2. Tali'Zorah's secure, but we need backup. We're bunkered up here. Can you send support,"_ the disembodied voice that was coming through the radio attempted to report to his allies through his radio.

"Looks like we finally found at least a few survivors, including the one quarian we came here looking for," Miranda remarked once Steve finally found the radio they needed.

 _"OP-1, this is Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, come in, over,"_ the quarian on the other end of the radio repeated once more, identifying the soldier who was on the other end of the line before Steve even attempted to ask.

"This is Captain Steve Rogers, alias Captain America of the _Normandy SR-2_. Can we be of any help," Cap stated into the old-looking radio.

 _"Captain America? Tali had stated that you were on Freedom's Progress, but I didn't actually believe it at the time. Don't know why you'd be here, but right now, I'll take any organic as a welcome sight,"_ Reegar replied. _"Patch your radio into Channel 617 Theta. It'll make things easier for all of us."_

Thankfully, altering radio frequencies was something that Captain America had long since learned how to do quite easily on his omni-tool, and in no time at all, the entire team was exchanging nods of confirmation to show that they were all transferred over to the channel that Reegar had told them to. "Care to explain why your people are out here in Geth Space," Steve asked once the last member of his team had made the necessary adjustments to their radio.

 _"We were on a stealth mission. High risk. We found what we were after, but the geth found us. They've got us pinned down. We can't get to our ship, and we can't transmit data through the solar radiation,"_ Reegar explained.

"What exactly was the reason for this mission though," Steve asked, showing that he had been hoping for a little more than that.

 _"You're asking the wrong person, Captain. I just point and shoot. Something about the sun going bad faster than it should. Some kind of energy problem, but that's about all I know."_

"Well, at least he knows what he's best at," Grunt commented to the others, referencing what Reegar had stated his main job was, and gaining nods from Mordin and Garrus in response.

"How's your team holding up for the moment," Steve then inquired, hoping to get things back on track.

 _"We were a small squad made up of about a dozen marines, plus the science team. We're down to half strength now. We made the synthetic bastards pay for it though. At the moment, we're bunkered down at base camp, across the valley. I left Tali'Zorah in a secure shelter and then doubled back to help hold the defensive line. Getting Tali safely out is our top priority, so if you can extract her, we'll keep them off ya."_

"And you're sure that the geth haven't reached her yet, and that she's still alright," Steve asked, only noticing how Garrus tensed a little at hearing this question from the corner of his eye.

 _"Affirmative. I saw to it myself, and I left my best men with her. When you get here, you can talk to her on the comm. Every marine on this rock has sworn to protect Tali'Zorah, so as long as one of us is drawing air, she'll be safe."_

"Definitely a good warrior for a quarian," Grunt huffed in acknowledgment, but it did not seem like that to everyone.

"Are you really planning to throw your life away just for some data," Captain America asked.

 _"Negative. I'd give up my life for the Migrant Fleet; all the difference in the world. I'm no tech expert, I'm a marine. They tell me to shoot, I shoot. They said to protect Tali and the data, so if you get them out safe, then I've done my job."_

"Well don't be in any rush to die. You've already lost a lot of good people here, so let's not lose anyone else, including you. You got that soldier," Captain America ordered.

 _"Loud and clear,"_ Reegar confirmed.

Steve nodded in acceptance of this response and then moved on to a more important matter. "What about the geth? Are we going to have to worry about them sending any reinforcements?"

 _"I don't think so,"_ Reegar answered. _"The patrol ship that spotted us hasn't lifted off again, and the radiation blocks all off-world communication, including there's."_

"Understood," Steve nodded once again. "Hold your position for as long as you can. We'll be there in a few minutes if we go through their back ranks."

Before the team could begin to move though, Reegar suddenly shouted, _"Wait! Watch your ass! We've got a drop-ship coming in!"_

Barely seconds later, the ship that Reegar had warned them about swooped down and fired a round of energy blasts at the quarians who were guarding the door that Cap and his team needed to get through, killing them in an instant, and knocking a large, stone pillar over so that it would crush any survivors beneath it. Garrus ended up needing some additional help to keep Spider-Man from charging out of their current cover from the intense radiation and attempting to take down the ship that had just taken a few more quarian lives, but no one could really blame the web-head for wanting to retaliate for the synthetics' sudden, cold execution. Thankfully, there were some geth forces that were just dropped off by the ship for him to take his anger out on, and the team was more than happy to help Spider-Man do so, if the upsurge in gun fire and explosions were anything to go by. Once the area immediately ahead of the doorway was cleared, Captain America holstered his pistol once again and tapped his comm. device to call Reegar back.

"Reegar, the geth have blocked the entrance. Is there any route that you know of that could help us get through," Cap asked.

 _"At the moment, no. That door's your best bet of reaching us quickly,"_ Reegar replied. _"There are some demo-charges in the buildings nearby that you could use to clear a path though."_

"We don't have time to go scouring for some explosives," Garrus argued, and the sentiment was easily shared by everyone.

"Grunt, why don't you and Spider-Man knock," Captain America suggested with a small smirk towards the indicated two, drawing an excited grin from the Krogan-Hulk while Spidey just cracked his knuckles in preparation for the show of strength that was about to be executed. Just as they were both reaching the pillar though, a new storm of weapons fire began to rain down on the team, prompting Steve to jump directly in front of both Grunt and Spidey so that he could intercept any shots thrown in their direction with his shield. "Grunt, get that door cleared! We'll keep them off of you until you do," Captain America shouted.

Grunt nodded and immediately kneeled down to carry out his task while the rest of the team spread out to return fire and provide the cover that Cap said they would be giving. Cap himself remained close to Grunt with his shield forward and his pistol out, thinking he would be best to help keep their big friend safe until he had done his job in case Grunt's skin was not as thick as Hulk's, leaving Garrus, Miranda, Mordin, and Spider-Man as the only ones able to freely move about as they counterattacked the geth assault they were currently facing. At first it did not seem as though it would be any more difficult than the previous fights they had with the geth since landing on Haestrom, but that quickly changed when some of the larger synthetics suddenly started to shimmer and then disappear into thin air much like a certain master thief the team knew of.

"Careful! They have optical camouflage capabilities," Garrus warned after the first geth had vanished from sight.

"No kidding," Spider-Man retorted as he fired a couple repulsor blasts at the geth that were closest to him. The web-head was about to fire a Taser Web at another geth when he spotted a fast moving one that suddenly leapt from the ground and up onto the wall. "Hey! Wall-crawling is my shtick! I swear, if you guys start spinning webs, I'll sue!"

"I'm sure they're very concerned about such things," Miranda sarcastically remarked as she crushed a Geth Prime with her biotics.

"They should be! Because not only do I have the number of some great lawyers, but I also take plagiarizing of my abilities very seriously," Spider-Man quipped, and to prove his point, the web-head leaped out of his cover towards the Geth Hopper he had spotted earlier, and continued making leaps and bounds until he was right on top of said geth, allowing him to smash it apart with a hard hit through its torso. Upon spotting some other Hoppers baring down on them, Spidey instantly swung out and dealt with them as well, showing that he was more than able to keep up with the fast moving geth troops thanks to his own speed and agility.

After a few more minutes, all the Geth Hoppers were eliminated, but that still left the matter of the other geth troops that were attacking the team. That became a bit less of a problem when Grunt finally managed to lift the pillar over his head, and threw the massive stone towards the synthetics that were attacking his friends. The Krogan-Hulk's efforts managed to destroy most of their current enemies, and the others were more than happy to mop up what was left before they finally turned to head through the now cleared doorway so that they could assist Reegar's team. Just as Cap was opening the door, Grunt had to wipe his hands a little and grin as he proclaimed, "That was fun. I'm still not seeing how things are supposed to get worse just because of what I said earlier though."

"Give it some time. It'll happen sooner or later," Spider-Man reassured Grunt. "Trust me, it's already worse seeing as I've discovered the geth indulge in plagiarism, so it can only go further downhill from here."

"If you say so," Grunt shrugged in response, though his tone indicated that he was still having a hard time believing Spidey's claims, a feeling that was easily shared by Miranda if her not-so-discreet eye-roll was any indication.

All banter was quickly silenced when the team entered the building that was previously blocked, mostly due to the fact that once they were inside, they found the lifeless bodies of numerous geth and quarians all around the room. It was rather clear that both sides were struggling to overwhelm the other, given how they were each lying about on the floor, but that did not change the fact that the sight was a terribly tragic one to behold. Moving on from the deceased combatants, they were able to clearly see that they were definitely in some sort of base, given the various amounts of different equipment that lay around the room, along with a few different items to make a place more comfortable, but after taking a second glance, Miranda was able to notice something else as well.

"This colony predates the Geth Uprising," Miranda gasped in slight awe.

"How can you tell," Captain America asked, with everyone else being just as curious.

"From the design of the buildings, among other things," Miranda shrugged in a nonchalant manner. "You can tell from the structural design alone that these buildings are quarian in nature, which can only mean that the quarians had colonized this world long before the geth had rebelled against their former masters."

"Okay, but why would the quarians come back here now," Spider-Man asked. "Do you think they were hoping to retake one of their lost colonies so that they could actually have a world to live on, or so they could have a foothold for some kind of offensive against the geth?"

"Both suggestions highly unlikely," Mordin refuted. "Quarian we previously spoke to said that quarians were here to gather data regarding Haestrom's sun. Additionally, Haestrom is in the middle of Geth Space. Not wise to retake a colony in this position if resettlement was intended purpose. High radiation levels also make resettlement unlikely, as it would be problematic for quarian suits and the protection they provide the quarians."

"Well whatever they're after, I sure hope it's worth it," Garrus piped in as he sadly nodded to the deceased quarians in the room, getting everyone to fall silent once he had.

After retaining another minute of respectful silence, Peter and Mordin made their way over to one of the computers in the room to see if they could find something about the reason why the quarians were on Haestrom, but the only thing they seemed to find was an audio recording, which they informed everyone of before starting a playback of said recording. The very second the first words were spoken, Garrus had immediately identified the voice that was speaking for everyone to be that of Tali'Zorah herself. _"Our ancestors walked these halls with uncovered heads. The sun must've been normal back then,"_ Tali's voice said. _"So much space, walls of stone…it's amazing. I wish my friends could see it. I wish Shepard or Garrus were here."_

"Hear that buddy? She misses you," Spider-Man teased as he gave Garrus a playful little nudge.

"Oh shut up," Garrus retorted as he took a quick swat at Peter, only for the web-head to dodge it with a laugh.

All further teasing was instantly halted when Tali's voice cut in once again, only this time it was not from a recording of a report that the quarian had filed. _"Tali'Zorah to Base Camp. Come in Base Camp…Hello? Is anyone there?"_

"Over there," Garrus shouted as he indicated a console that was close to a locked door opposite of where they had come in, on which they could all see a holographic image of the quarian herself being projected on the monitor.

Upon reaching the console, Cap worked as quickly as he could to reply to the woman's calls, and eventually managed to open clear line and said, "Tali, it's Captain America."

 _"Captain America,"_ the young quarian exclaimed in mix of surprise and relief. _"I'm not complaining, but you seem to show up at the strangest times. What're you doing all the way out here in Geth Space?"_

"We were in the neighborhood and thought you could use some help," Cap started off as a joke. "Plus, a recent addition to my team really wanted to see you."

Seeing that the captain was motioning to him, Garrus quickly stepped forward, and smiled as he said, "Hey Tali. It's been a long time."

 _"Garrus,"_ Tali cried happily, and even through the communication line, her joy and excitement was almost infectious. _"It's good to see you again. I just wish it was under better circumstances."_

"That makes two of us, but it certainly reminds me of old times," Garrus quipped.

 _"Well, I can't argue with you about that,"_ the young woman chuckled in response. _"What about my team? Is anyone over there with you still alive?"_

That question immediately dampened any good feeling that the group held at the moment, and Garrus ended up being the one who took the unfortunate responsibility of saying, "I'm sorry, Tali, but everyone here is dead. The survivors probably fell back to another position."

The news certainly did a good job of sobering Tali's happiness, but she seemed to keep herself composed enough when she replied, _"We knew this mission was high risk, but…damn it. Still, thanks for coming Garrus, and you too, Captain America. It means a lot to hear your voices."_

"We're just happy to help," Steve nodded. "Can you tell us anything about the situation from your end?"

 _"Not that much, I'm afraid,"_ Tali admitted. _"Kal'Reegar and his marines got me into the observatory. From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I've gotten the data I needed and I'm safer now, but there's a lot of geth outside. I can hear what's left of Reegar's team fighting with them right now."_

"Maybe it would help if we brought down some heavy artillery from the ship," Spider-Man suggested from where he was, startling Tali a little since she could not see him at the moment.

 _"Who was that,"_ Tali asked.

"No one too important. Just a teammate who has apparently made it his life mission to be a pain in my ass," Garrus replied, getting an indignant response from Peter that was subsequently ignored.

 _"Well, either way,"_ Tali continued in a brief, unsure tone at the exchange. _"It wouldn't be a good idea to bring down heavy fire. These buildings are centuries old, so doing so could cause this whole place to collapse on us."_

"Captain, required exit is inaccessible," Mordin suddenly informed everyone, indicating the door they needed was currently locked with the console seriously busted. "Damage likely to have been purposefully inflicted as a means of stopping the geth. Clever tactic, crude, but problematic if we are to proceed."

"Tali, the door we need is locked and the console to open it is damaged. Can you get it open from your end," Captain America asked.

 _"Hmm, let me see…yes, I can do it! It should be unlocked right about…now,"_ Tali eventually stated, and not a minute later, the red light that signified that the door was locked changed to green, much to everyone's relief and impression. _"Be careful Rogers, Garrus, and please do what you can to keep Reegar alive along with whoever else on his team is left."_

"You have our word," Garrus promised just before the communication line was cut, and the team immediately headed out the recently opened door so that they could reach Tali and what was left her team before it was too late.

* * *

Getting to Tali turned out to be easier said than done, as the minute the team had stepped out into the open again, they were assaulted by a number of geth drones that were flying all around them and using optical camouflage to make it more difficult to take them out. The fact that there was a Prime or two among the enemy number did not help matters in the slightest, but the team was able to deal with the opposing force and get through to the bunker that was just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the observatory in one piece, somehow. In all honesty though, it did help that Spider-Man had his Spider-Sense to point him in the direction of any sneak attack that the drones tried to attempt, but very few members of the team were willing to admit that aloud for fear of how much more insufferable Spidey would become afterwards. In addition to this, it also did not hurt that Grunt was able to easily tear through one of the Geth Primes without receiving any serious injury thanks to his gamma-induced strength, and it was clear that Grunt was still itching for a chance to do even more damage.

Whatever the case may be, it made no real difference. All that mattered was that they had made it through any ambush the geth had setup for them thus far and were now just a short distance from Tali, something that everyone was very grateful for. There only seemed to be one thing left to do before they could proceed further, and that was opening up the locked door that was now blocking the path. It did not take Garrus long to open up the path again, especially since he had some help from Mordin, but doing so also opened the shutters that had prevented them getting a larger view of the area they would be venturing forward into, and some of them were quickly wishing that they had remained ignorant of what awaited them for a little longer. Naturally, the first person to realize that something bad was about to be heading their way was Spider-Man, as his Spider-Sense had instantly started blaring a warning at him like crazy, a fact he made well-known the instant it started going off, and everyone was quick to see the reason as to why.

There, lying in wait in the middle of the impending battlefield, among a massive swarm of Geth Troopers, was a large object that unfolded into a large, steel-gray, four-legged beast with the single eye that was characteristic of all geth before slowly making its way around its small area in the center of the battlefield while searching for targets, and it did not help matters when Miranda finally identified the beast with the slightest hint of concern in her voice that only Steve seemed able to pick up on. "Colossus," Miranda shouted in warning.

"Hey wait a minute. First Garrus does it while he's being a vigilante on Omega, and now the geth are ripping off the X-Men too? Is it really that hard for people of this century to be a little more original with…OH CRAP! MOVE," Spider-Man started to complain before he realized that the Colossus was turning to fire on them and ducked for cover along with the rest of the team. Thankfully, the Colossus' shots did not harm anyone on the team, mostly because a good amount of the blasts that it fired never made it through the windows that led into the room, and whatever shots did make it through ended up sailing over the team's heads since they had all ducked down at just the right moment. When the Colossus finally ceased firing on them, Spider-Man took the chance to say, "That's the kind of thing that can happen when you say something's too easy, Grunt. That!"

"Okay, okay. I get the point," Grunt grumbled in response. "But if we get enemies like that just because I say something's easy, then maybe I should say it every time we have a mission."

"Please don't," nearly everyone chorused in response as they started to pick themselves up and move towards the recently opened door. Of course, some of them had a bit of assistance from others in getting back on their feet again, most notable of which being Miranda, who not only was shielded by Steve when the Colossus had turned to fire on them, but was soon being helped to her feet by the super soldier as well. Now normally, with just about any other person who had done such a thing, Miranda would have snapped at them and said that she did not need the help, even at times when she actually did but refused to admit it, but this time, she did neither of those things, much to her surprise. Instead, she actually smiled in thanks to Steve and let him help her up, increasing her surprise as a result. Why she had not reacted like she normally would have, Miranda did not know, but right now was not the time for her to be thinking about such things, seeing as they did have a Geth Colossus bearing down on them.

Miranda found it made a lot easier to bring her mind back to the matter at hand when she and the others heard someone shouting out to them, and from the synthetic-like sound of the person's voice, it was not that difficult of a guess that the person calling out to them was probably quarian. Once they were close enough to see the speaker, they were able to confirm that supposition was correct, for there, ducked down behind a nearby wall with a rocket launcher in hand, was a quarian soldier in a red and lightly tanned enivrosuit that all quarians were known for wearing. As soon as everyone had reached a position behind the barricade that was protecting the quarian from enemy fire, the quarian in question turned to their red, white, and blue clad leader and began to give Steve a quick explanation. "Squad Leader Kal'Reegar. We talked on the radio before that drop-ship arrived. I've still got no idea why you're here, but this ain't the time to be picky," the quarian stated before his eyes found Spider-Man hanging on the large wall behind him. "Uh…is he actually sticking to the…"

"Yes, he is. You get used to it," Steve interrupted. Everyone was forced to duck down and cringe a little from an explosion of enemy fire on their position before Cap could continue with the line of questioning he had for Reegar. "Right now, I need a sit-rep on our status, soldier."

"Understood," Reegar nodded after he gave a quick shake of his head to clear any cobwebs that had formed from the explosion. "Tali's inside over there, but the geth killed the rest of my squad and they're trying to get to her. The best I've been able to do is draw their attention."

"And you're sure she's still alive," Garrus yelled over the gunfire.

"The observatory is reinforced. Even the geth will need time to get through it," Reegar confidently replied before adding an afterthought with a small chuckle. "And it's hard to get through when someone's firing rockets at you."

"Damn straight! You've got a quad, quarian," Grunt agreed with a grin.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Reegar joked in reply.

"So just what are we up against regarding the geth," Miranda asked.

"They're near platoon strength, but the Colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol that lets it huddle up and fix itself," Reegar explained. "I can't get a clear shot while it's down like that. I tried getting closer, but one of the bastards punched a shot clean through my suit."

"Suit damage not too serious I hope," Mordin inquired as he activated his omni-tool to run a quick medical scan.

"Nah, combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm swimming in antibiotics. The geth might get me, but I'm not gonna die from an infection in the middle of a battle. That's just insulting," Reegar reassured the professor.

While some of the things Reegar said did not make much sense to Captain America or Spider-Man, for the obvious reasons of not knowing much about the quarian people beyond the most basic of information, they did understand enough to be able to smile in approval of Reegar's bravery and determination to go down fighting. Unfortunately, that was not something they needed right now. "I hope you have some ideas on how to get through this in one piece, because right now, we need any kind of plan we can get if we're going to get to Tali," Cap inquired of Reegar.

"In the case of the Colossus, standard protocol with Armature-class units is to sabotage the shields and wear it down. Ya know, kill it with bug bites, but the repair protocol blows that plan to hell. If you try to wear it down, it just huddles up and fixes itself, so whatever we do has to scrap that bastard fast. Probably means getting up close, past that cover," Reegar explained. "Then there's the battlefield itself. The right side's got a catwalk with a sniper perch. You can wreak some havoc from there, but none of my men made it past the geth. The middle's got cover, but the damn Colossus has a clear shot at ya the whole time, and you've got geth coming in from all sides. The left gives you some cover from the Colossus, but your ass is hanging out for the geth, and that's how I got shot."

Running all this information through his mind allowed Steve to start forming the early stages of a plan, but that still left one thing left unanswered. "What about you? Is there anything you think you can do that'll help us get to Tali?"

"Well at this point, I've really only got one idea on how to get through to Tali," Reegar admitted. "I'm not moving so well, but I can still pull a trigger, and I've got a rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet. You move in close, and I'll keep the Colossus busy, maybe even drop its shields. With luck, you'll be able to finish it off."

"Would not recommend that, given current condition of both yourself and your suit," Mordin advised. "Hard to say what chances of survival would be if hit again by enemy fire."

"Wasn't asking for your permission. My job is to keep Tali safe," Reegar argued as he moved to stand up and prepare his rocket launcher to fire, only to be stopped when Captain America pulled him back behind cover again.

"Stand down soldier," Steve shouted. "We don't have enough manpower for you to be throwing your life away like that, and you owe it to both your squad and Tali to make it through this alive."

"I'm not gonna just stand by while you run into enemy fire," Reegar protested, but that was as far as he got, because Cap already had a counterargument.

"I wasn't asking you to just sit back and watch. If you really are still able to at least pull a trigger, then we'll need you to watch our backs just in case they bring in reinforcements. You'll likely be the only one in a position to keep us covered if that happens," the super soldier stated.

Reegar had to let out a small grunt of displeasure in response to this, but in the end, he could not deny the captain's logic, and simply nodded, "Alright Rogers, we'll do it your way. Hit 'em for me. Keelah se'lai!"

Captain America just nodded in response before turning his attention back to his team again and prepared to give out orders. "Spider-Man, I need you to…"

"I know, I know. Keep 'em busy and basically play the part of live bait once again," Spidey interrupted.

"Actually no; I need you to get Garrus up to that sniper position," Cap corrected. "You're the only one who has a chance of getting both yourself and at least one other person over there in one piece without getting shot at or ending up in the sun. While Garrus is doing his thing from there, you'll need to keep him covered from any geth that move in that direction."

Spider-Man was a bit surprised by this change of roles, but he was certainly not going to complain, so he simply nodded and moved over to hoist Garrus onto his back before aiming one of his web shooters in the direction that they needed to go. "Please try to make this a smooth trip," Garrus quietly begged. He still remembered the first time he had been forced to go somewhere via Spidey's method of travel, and it was not a pleasant experience for him to say the least.

"No promises, buddy," Spidey quipped in reply, and they were soon swinging away with a quick thwip.

"Miranda and Mordin, you and I are going to be hitting the other geth with whatever we have while sending out whatever we can at the Colossus. Our job will be to keep the fight focused on us and off of Reegar, Spider-Man, and Garrus as much as possible. Make sure you hit the Colossus with only your most powerful attacks, because that'll be what we'll need to throw at it if we want to take it down." Steve then paused in his orders for a minute when he finally turned to the Krogan-Hulk and gave one last order that he had given another Avenger a few times in the past while indicating the Colossus and each of the geth closest to it. "And Grunt…smash."

Grunt just smirked in response to Captain America's orders for him before charging forward with a powerful jump that ultimately led him to come crashing down on a small number of unfortunate geth, and he was soon tearing through Geth Forces left and right while firing a few shots from his shotgun either when he could not get to a target or when he wanted to spare a shot on the Colossus. Seeing their Krogan-Hulk friend tearing through the enemy showed the team that Grunt was most likely going to end up being the one who served as the distraction this time around, but given that they all had their own jobs to worry about right now, they put it aside for later and went to work. Mordin was easily blasting his way through geth troops with a combination of his tech skills and his pistol, often times even mixing it up by using the SMG that he had on him, with his go-to tech skill being a cryo blast that he unleashed from his omni-tool, but he still made sure that he did not take too many risks with whatever offensive move he made since he was still the team's field medic. Miranda on the other hand did not play it as safe, as evidenced by how she was so willing to charge in and tear apart any geth in her way be it through use of her SMG or her biotics, and given the fact that she was doing so without receiving so much as a scratch thus far, Steve found he could not help but wonder if she was related to Black Widow in some, small way, or someone else from the Age of Marvels with similar skills. Not that Cap spent very much time watching Miranda, as he had his own opponents to deal with, none of which were able to stand up to the skills and strength of the first Avenger.

At one point though, the four would have ended up in a spot of trouble when some geth forces nearly got the drop on them, but a sudden barrage of shots from above easily took care of that, prompting them all to turn and see Garrus perched in the sniper position and reloading his rifle while Spider-Man kept any geth that attempted to converge on the turian's position at bay with an ease that could only belong to someone with spider powers like his. Cap quickly spared a brief salute of thanks to Garrus after the turian took down a Geth Sniper that had escaped his notice, and then turned his attention back to the battle at hand by snapping his shield arm out so that said shield would slam right into a synthetic that attempted to hit him from behind and kicking it away from him so he could finish it off with his pistol. Upon spinning around, Steve tossed his shield towards a number of geth that were converging on both his and Miranda's position and then fired a few shots from his pistol before switching it out for his assault rifle as he rolled to cover. He did not call his trusted shield back right away as Miranda had caught it near the end of its journey across the battlefield and was now using it to fight back against the geth herself. Watching Miranda fight with his shield made Steve pause in his efforts for a minute because she turned out to be pretty good with it. She was spinning around and slicing it through geth, and slamming it into troopers that got too close to her before firing a finishing shot, and when she threw it at an enemy, she would coat it with her biotics so that it would have an even more potent edge to it while allowing her to direct its path in the way that she wanted.

Steve's observance of Miranda fighting with his shield ended up nearly costing him though, as the Colossus managed to fire on his position before he could move to a safer cover. He did not sustain any serious injury, but his side did hurt pretty badly, so he could only assume that he had a few cracked ribs or something. Thankfully, Mordin was close by when it happened, and after a quick application of some medi-gel, along with a few quick scans to make sure that he would not require additional medical assistance after they returned to the ship, the salarian professor allowed Cap to get back into the action so that they could finish off the geth that were still pounding away at them. Once Steve had risen back to his feet again, he fired off a few rounds from his assault rifle, and then spun himself into the air when he saw his own shield flying towards him, allowing the vibranium disk to impact a geth that had appeared behind him. Steve finished the damaged geth off by drawing the shield back to him via his armor's electro-magnets, which sent the trooper flying into a wall where it shattered apart on impact, and then gave Miranda a quick nod of thanks before turning his attention towards the only geth enemy that was left at that point: the Colossus.

Apparently, the large machine knew that it was on its own now, as it had previously folded up to fix itself just seconds before they had taken out the last of the other geth troops, which meant that there was a chance it had not completed its repairs before it was forced to rejoin the battle. Seeing this made the decision of what Steve's next order to his team quite clear even before he voiced it. "Take it down hard! HIT WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!"

No one hesitated for even a second, as bullets, biotics, cryo blasts, repulsors, and even a rocket or two from Reegar went flying towards the Colossus, pounding away at its shields and armor with a vicious brutality that did not have any easy comparison to anything. Miranda was throwing out biotic warps to slow it down, while Garrus was hitting the Colossus at its most vulnerable points with a precision that could only have been rivaled by Hawkeye, and Mordin simply fired his cryo blasts and an incendiary blast at the Colossus, giving Spider-Man a chance to increase the output of his wrist repulsor to its maximum before firing it again along with a number of Taser Webs, leaving Reegar and Cap to tear into the massive metal beast with their own weapons. In the midst of this storm of weapons fire, Grunt managed to charge forward and grab the Colossus by one of its legs, and once he had a firm hold on said appendage, he lifted it up off the ground and into the air with a mighty roar, leaving it vulnerable to one last blast from anyone on the team who still had something left to blast it with. Under this fearsome force of firepower, it was no time at all until the Colossus had gone up in a grand explosion of fire, ending its threat to the team and their quarian target.

"And that's the end of a good fight," Grunt panted with a smile as he tried to regain his breath from his latest show of strength.

Grunt was not the only one exhausted, as everyone else on the team was panting rather hard to a certain degree in weariness, some of them even going so far as to collapse into a sitting position as they did so, even Garrus and Spider-Man, who had not really had to move from their last position for most of the fight save for when they were getting into said position. Once he had managed to lower himself and Garrus back down to where the team was on the ground again though, Spider-Man had to say, "While I won't disagree with Grunt on whether or not that felt like a good battle, I'm still saying we don't do something like that again anytime soon. All in favor?" When no one argued with him, the web-head took that to mean that everyone agreed and added, "Good. I hate robots."

"We weren't fighting robots; we were fighting geth," Garrus attempted to argue, too tired to really remember why it would be a waste of time trying to do so.

"Garrus, are the geth made of metal," Spider-Man asked, much to the turian's confusion.

"Uh…what does that have to do with anything?"

"It's a simple yes or no question. Are the geth made of metal?"

"Well…yes, but that doesn't answer my…"

"Do they have a single _electronic_ eye?"

"Well yeah, but where are you going with…"

"Do they have a bunch of wires and cables and circuits inside of them?"

"Yes." Garrus had sighed his response this time, having given up on trying to get an answer on where Peter was going with his line of questioning at this point.

"Then they're robots," Spider-Man concluded with emphasis, thinking his point had been made.

"Let's just get Tali and get out of here, people," Cap interrupted before anyone could argue the point any further.

"Agreed," Miranda nodded as she rose to her feet once again, with the others doing the same a short time afterwards.

Once everyone was on their feet again, the group quickly made their way over to the observatory that Reegar had said Tali was inside of, until they were standing right outside the door to said building. Seeing the door was locked, Garrus quickly tapped his comm. link and called out, "Tali, its Garrus. It's all clear out here with not a single active geth in sight. You can let us in whenever you want."

 _"Just a second,"_ Tali hastily replied, and a moment later, the interface turned green to signify that the lock was removed, permitting the team to enter, which they did as quickly as they could. Upon entering the facility, they made their way to the back where they found Tali'Zorah herself standing over a computer and working with a speed and skill that only a quarian could possess.

"Just let me finish this download and I'll be right with you," Tali informed the group, and not a second later, the young woman had finished her work and turned to face them. No one noticed how she seemed to become a little more tense when she saw Miranda among their number, but it quickly passed when she saw who else was in the group, and her tone ended up being much friendlier when she spoke. "Thank you Captain," Tali nodded. "If not for you I would've never made it out of this room."

"You really shouldn't be thanking us, Tali. We probably wouldn't have had a chance to save you if it weren't for the sacrifices that your fellow quarians made here today," Steve argued.

"Keelah," Tali sadly moaned in response. "This whole mission has been a disaster. In all honesty, I wish I had joined you back on Freedom's Progress, but I couldn't let anyone else take my place on something this risky. I don't even know if it was really worth all those lives, but the Admiralty Board believed the information here was worth sacrificing our lives for, so I just have to believe they know what's best."

"And what about you? Do you think it was worth it," Steve inquired.

Since they could not see her face, no one was sure what expression Tali had adopted at Steve's question, but if they were to judge by her tone of voice, they would have to say that she most likely had a deep scowl on her face right then. "A lot of people died here; some of them were my friends. All of them were good at their jobs, so that damn data had better be worth it. The price was too high."

"Well, you don't hear any of us arguing with you on that," Spidey commented, drawing Tali's attention to him when he spoke up. "I'm just sorry we couldn't have gotten here to help sooner."

"Thanks um…whoever you are," Tali nodded in uncertainty, but it was most likely due more to the web-head's appearance than anything else.

"I suppose a few introductions are in order before we go any further," Steve suggested, having remembered that there were a few people here that Tali had yet to meet. "Tali'Zorah, I'd like you to meet Professor Mordin Solus, Grunt, and Spider-Man, the last of which is actually an old friend of mine from the Age of Marvels. And I'm sure I don't need to reintroduce you to either Garrus or Miranda."

"No you don't," Tali happily confirmed as she walked over to wrap Garrus in a quick, friendly hug, which Garrus did not hesitate to return. Seeing this exchange made both Peter and Steve smile a bit, as it had become quite clear to the both of them that Tali had quite a friendly aura about her when she was among an old friend.

After releasing the quarian from the unexpected hug, Garrus then asked, "So if you're done here, does that mean you can join us on the new _Normandy_?"

"I promised to see this mission through, and I did, so I can leave with you now and send the data to the fleet," Tali nodded.

"Certain that Admiralty Board and quarian leadership will not have a problem with departure," Mordin asked.

"I just watched the rest of my team die. If the admirals have a problem with my joining up with you, they can go to hell," Tali practically snarled, and for some reason, Peter found himself imaging Tali's face being similar to a certain X-Girl with phasing powers when she tried to scowl.

"I think I'm going to like her," Grunt chuckled.

"And I think you'll be glad to know that you didn't lose the whole rest of your team, ma'am," Reegar clarified as he made his presence known to everyone.

"Reegar! You made it," Tali exclaimed in relief. "I guess this means I owe you for helping two of my people now, Captain Rogers."

"What makes you think I needed any help, ma'am? I had 'em on the ropes," Reegar waved off.

"I know you did, but I still figured we should help anyway," Steve nodded with a smirk of his own, getting a short laugh out of Reegar and a few members of the team as a result. "We'd be happy to get you out of here if you need a lift, Reegar."

"Don't worry about it. The geth didn't damage our ship, so as long as I get out of here before reinforcements show up, I'll be fine," Reegar politely refused. He then turned to Tali and said, "I'll pass the data to the Admiralty Board and let 'em know what happened for you, ma'am."

"Thanks Reegar. I appreciate that," Tali nodded as she handed over the OSD containing the data.

Reegar accepted both the drive and Tali's thanks with a quick nod and then turned to the star spangled Avenger and said, "Whelp, she's all yours now, Captain Rogers. Keep her safe."

"Don't worry. We'll do our best," Steve confirmed, and with that, the team parted ways with Reegar so that they could contact the _Normandy_ for pick up.

As they waited for the shuttle, Spider-Man discreetly made his way over to Tali, and said, "So there's something really important that I've just got to ask you."

"Yes," Tali prompted.

Peter did not answer right away, but when he did, his tone was slightly teasing as he started to ask, "Did you know that Garrus is seriously…"

"Going to put a few bullets through you if you don't shut it right now, Web-Head," Garrus snapped, having overheard them from where he was.

"Aw come on, man. I just need like two minutes," Spider-Man pleaded, while Tali just looked between the two in slight confusion.

"I'm serious here, Spidey. Knock it off or you'll be finding yourself forced to do another performance later on that will be broadcast to the entire galaxy," Garrus warned.

"Fine, fine," Spider-Man finally conceded with his hands raised in surrender. "You know, Logan actually let me have a little fun before threatening me to shut up."

"Oh I'm so sure," Garrus remarked in full sarcasm, but he still had to smile a little when he heard Tali laughing at how ridiculous he and Spidey were being right now, taking it as a sign that things were going to start looking up a little.

* * *

Garrus and Cap had given Tali the quick version of what their primary mission was on the shuttle ride back up to the _Normandy_ , and while it was rather shocking for her to hear, Tali was not as surprised as others would have been since she had seen what had happened on Freedom's Progress along with the data that Veetor had collected during the attack on said colony. She was, however, a little concerned about the fact that the _Normandy_ was now a Cerberus ship and that some old friends of hers were actually working with Cerberus, but Garrus quickly reassured Tali that the ship and the mission was under Captain America's command and not that of the extremist organization, despite the fact that Cerberus did in fact have a few operatives in their ranks, so that did ease Tali's concerns on the matter just a little. As a result, she was not quite as short with the Cerberus crewmembers as she had originally expected herself to be. All that was really left to do now was give Tali the official welcome to the crew in the meeting room.

"Welcome to the _Normandy_ , Tali'Zorah," Jacob nodded after Cap had led Tali into the room, now decked out in his regular red, white, and blue uniform instead of his armor. "Cerberus saw footage of you in action, so I think I speak for everyone when I say we're looking forward to having you on the team. Your engineering expertise will really benefit the mission."

If Jacob was expecting a friendly response from Tali, he was quickly disappointed, as Tali finally found the chance to air at least a few of her grievances about working with Cerberus. "I don't really know who you are, aside from the fact that you were with Captain Rogers on Freedom's Progress, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet. Don't make nice," Tali warned.

"You don't have to join Cerberus or anything like that, Tali, or even become best friends with everyone here, but I would still appreciate it if we all try to remain civil towards each other," Steve calmly suggested. "Besides, that's actually part of the reason why you're here."

"Meaning," Tali asked.

"You're not Cerberus, and more importantly, you're someone that's helped save this galaxy from a very serious threat in the past. That makes you someone I can trust, and I doubt I really need to explain to you why I need people like that with me right now," Captain America explained.

Tali just nodded in understanding, knowing that Steve's current position meant that it would be hard for him to really trust anyone since there were very few people he actually knew in this century, and his ability to trust people was not really helped by the fact that a lot of people would probably see his current connections to Cerberus before they saw anything else. She was brought back to the present conversation when Jacob spoke up again. "For what it's worth, I wasn't part of what happened to the Migrant Fleet, but I understand your distrust. I hope we can get past that as we work together."

"We'll see," Tali stiffly replied. She then made her way over to Cap and whispered, "The minute you decide you need to blow Cerberus up, let me know and I'll lend you a grenade."

"Noted," Steve replied in an equally quiet tone before he resumed using his normal tone of voice. "I'll have Jacob get you clearance so you can have access to the ship and engineering. I understand that area's where you preferred to work during your time on the old _Normandy_."

"You understood correctly, so please do so as quickly as possible. I can't help out if I don't know how the ship works," Tali confirmed with a nod.

"In that case, make sure you get well acquainted with Spider-Man. He's done some work down there that should help our chances in the long run of our primary mission, and I've been told that he could use some help with integrating some of them," Steve suggested.

"Sure thing," Tali nodded. "Where can I find him right now?"

"Well, you can start with right behind you and go from there," a new voice answered, causing Tali to jump in surprise before spinning around to be greeted by the red and blue clad form of the web-swinger himself, with the only part of his iconic suit that was missing at the moment being his mask, allowing Tali to see the surprisingly handsome face and brown hair of Peter Parker. "'Sup? Your friendly intergalactic Spider-Man, at your service."

Jacob could not stop the small chuckle that had escaped him even if he wanted to. "Seriously? 'Friendly intergalactic Spider-Man,'" he then asked in disbelief.

"Hey, calling myself the 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Man' just didn't seem right at the moment, all things considered," Spidey shrugged. He then turned back to Tali to see that she was holding a hand to her heart in an attempt to calm her nerves and asked, "Uh…are you okay?"

"Fine, just…keelah, don't do that," Tali gasped.

Peter just smiled in response and quipped, "Well I could, but then I would be taking away some of the amazing that comes with being me."

Tali gave a cute little laugh in response to Peter's joke and then followed him out of the room so he could show her the way down to engineering. Steve did not need to see Tali's face to know that it had lit up a little when Peter started telling her a few of the things he knew about ARC Reactor technology just before the door closed behind them. After another minute or so, Jacob finally looked to Cap and said, "I think your little attempt at increasing crew morale by bringing Tali on board succeeded a little better than you think. Hearing that the team managed to take down a Geth Colossus has definitely made everyone think we have a real chance at fighting back against the Collectors. Still, after seeing what those bastards did on Horizon, everyone can't help but think…"

Steve could not help but note that there was something other than caution in Jacob's tone, and from what he could tell, it almost sounded like something close to regret or uncertainty. "Is there something on your mind, Jacob," Steve asked.

"No, it's just…there's a good chance we're not coming back, even if we get it done. There's no hiding that from anyone no matter what you do to improve morale," Jacob admitted. "I think we all just need a minute to get some…closure on a few things or something, ya know?"

"I understand. I'll let you get back to whatever you need to do, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know," Steve nodded. Jacob immediately returned Steve's nod with one of his own to show his thanks for that, and then left for the armory with a quick salute. After the door had shut, Steve remained silent for a moment while moving to lean against the edge of the conference table until he finally called out, "So, worried that your Kumo might end up being a little more friendly with our newest recruit, or did you just want to get a look at the new addition to the team?"

"Awe, how'd you know I was there," Kasumi playfully whined as she appeared before him in a flash of light.

"Glad to see you're doing better, and that you seem to be a little more willing to use your cloaking device again," Steve complimented.

"Well, I'm not sure if I'm completely back to normal, but I'm certainly doing better than before," Kasumi admitted. "More importantly, I figured now would be as good a time as any to talk to you about that deal I made with Cerberus for my recruitment on this mission."

Steve knew this was bound to come up sooner or later, but if he were to be honest with himself, he would have preferred it if Kasumi would have come to him about it at a time when she was at her best. Then again, if this whole thing could help Kasumi regain her spirit, then maybe it would not hurt to hear what exactly her deal with Cerberus entailed for that reason on its own. After running the various pros and cons through his mind for another minute, Steve finally decided that there was no time like the present to hear about this deal of Kasumi's, and said, "Alright. Let's hear about this condition for your help, Miss Goto."

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, there's that. Our favorite quarian is now on the team. Before anyone complains about how I just did what everyone else seems to do by having our guys go after Tali right after Horizon, let me just explain my reasoning. First off, if you heard of a mission like the one that would entail recruiting Tali, would you really ignore it? She was in the middle of Geth Space on a planet where the radiation would fry you to a crisp if you did not get into some really good shade right away; that's not a situation you want to put someone in. Plus, as was implied in the story, the Horizon Mission had not really succeeded completely, so obviously a mission like this would serve as a great morale booster. I know that such a view is a glass-half-empty way of looking at things, but when you dealt with the things that I had the team deal with last chapter, it's hard to do anything else at a given time._**

 ** _Next up, I hope I've made it clear that I'm very supportive of the Tali &Garrus relationship. I mean, I'm not against Tali being in a relationship with Shepard, but I just think her being with Garrus makes a bit more sense, plus, not like that path's open at the moment. Speaking of relationships, we've also seen a bit more of the growing relationship between Cap and Miranda, so yay for that! And it came to my attention recently that I have not really done too much with some of the more minor characters on the _Normandy _crew like Kelly, so that's why that scene was in there. It was not intentional, just a small oversight on my part due to the fact that the story tends to focus more on the characters who are actually part of the team doing all the fighting, and Joker and EDI of course._**

 ** _Now, as you've likely no doubt guessed by now, next chapter is when we see the adventures of Kasumi's loyalty mission, but it may not unfold in the way that you're probably expecting. If you need more information, then you can just move Onto the Preview, because I'm not saying anything more than what's said there..._**

 ** _With the details of Kasumi's enlistment now know, the master thief is soon off to retrieve her late partner's graybox with from a man that could be considered something like a new Wilson Fisk, Donovan Hock, and by her side to help is not the super soldier, but instead, the amazing Spider-Man. The web-swinger may have some experience dealing with crime lords and gatherings of criminals like what this duo will have to deal with, but it's going to take a lot more than just past experience to pull off this heist, and with the_** **Normandy _off recruiting someone else at the time, there's not much of a chance that they'll get much support from the ship, assuming that were an option to begin with. Find out if they can pull it off and who will be joining up with the team, next time. Just be sure you're ready to see a few more marvels joining up as well._**

 ** _Pretty exciting, huh? Just who could be joining the team next time? Guess you'll find out when that chapter rolls around. In the mean time..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	11. A Thief's Stolen Memories

_**AN: Hey guys, we're back again for more Avenging Normandy and the first chapter in which we experience the loyalty missions, and the first of said adventures is Kasumi's! I'm just sorry that Cap doesn't have a more active role in this mission.**_

 _ **Captain America: Come again?**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, sorry Cap, but your part in this chapter isn't really all that great. Now before you all get on my case about this, let me explain. When I was running through my various thoughts and plans for this story, one thing that stood out is that each loyalty mission would likely have a Marvel character that would have a bit more influence in things than others, be it Cap or one of the others. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "lyokoMARVELanime, not counting Wolverine, there's only two Marvel characters who are part of the**_ **Normandy _'s crew. How're you going to do that with just Cap and Spidey?" And the answer, just might surprise you...when it's revealed at the end of this chapter._**

 ** _EDI: Are there any reviews you wish to address before beginning the chapter, lyokoMARVELanime?_**

 ** _AN: Not really all that many, honestly. All I can really say in response to most of the reviews we've gotten since last chapter is thanks for your voices of support and I hope you all continue to enjoy this story._**

 ** _Though, in response to the review from "redx1221", I'm afraid that there's not currently any plans regarding a descendant of Bucky, assuming that's what you meant to say. As for the Inhumans, I had not really given that much thought on whether or not they would appear here. Though it is something that I am thinking about for maybe later on down the line or for some point in this story's sequel, but like I said, I will think about it, so thanks for the suggestion. I always like to hear a suggestion from my readers._**

 ** _Well, enjoy the show everyone!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 11: A Thief's Stolen Memories**

It seemed to be a rather pleasant, early evening on the planet of Bekenstein, located in the Boltzmann System, but one particular individual was finding it rather difficult to enjoy the sight of the setting sun as the shuttle she and her partner were traveling in approached a very large mansion that was clearly hosting a party if the various, well-dressed individuals that were going in and out of said building were any indication. Now do not misunderstand, Kasumi did indeed find the twilight of this planet very nice, but she was more focused on the mission ahead of her than anything else, especially considering the objective of this mission was retrieving her late partner's graybox, and that was really all the reason she needed to be much less playful and more serious than she normally was. Of course, she did find it a little easier to relax every time she glanced over at her current partner as he squirmed every now and again in the evening wear that she had insisted he wear for the start of this mission.

"Ugh, I hate wearing these kinds of monkey suits, and I think they've gotten even more uncomfortable than they were a century ago, and that's saying something since the most formal attire I've ever had was an old suit that belonged to my uncle and a clip-on tie," Peter Parker moaned in irritation for the umpteenth time since changing into the black and white attire that Kasumi had provided for him. It was honestly surprising to the master thief that the outfit even fit Peter, seeing as she had originally expected to have Captain America joining her on this little errand of hers, but after meeting and talking with Peter for a while, it only made sense to her that she should change that plan.

"Oh relax; you look very sharp right now, Mister Solomon Gunn. Hock won't know what hit him," Kasumi teased the web-head. "Seriously, you look great. You should wear this stuff more often. Not that there's anything wrong with your Spider-Man suit, but you would look pretty out of place at a society party if you were to show up wearing that."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Kasumi, but you mind filling me in on just who Solomon Gunn is," Peter requested as he finally stopped fidgeting with the collar of his suit. "It's not going to be great cover if I don't know details about the alias."

Kasumi simply nodded before bringing up a holo-screen that detailed everything she had set up for Peter's cover story. "You run a small but talented band of mercs out in the Terminus Systems, precisely the type of person Hock respects. I took the liberty of giving you a reputation. Papers, witnesses, article in Badass Weekly; just don't start talking business with him, and you'll be fine."

"Trust me, the last thing I plan on doing is talking about criminal business with anyone," Peter reassured Kasumi.

The master thief merely nodded in response to this and soon found herself remembering the talk she had with Captain America that had led her to this point.

* * *

 _"Alright. Let's hear about this condition for your help, Miss Goto," Captain America requested as he leaned back against the table of the conference room._

 _Kasumi took this moment to take a deep breath in order to calm her nerves, seeing as this was probably the first time she really told anyone about this story, and then looked Steve in the eye as she began her tale. "I'm looking for my old partner's graybox. A man named Donovan Hock took it, and I'm planning to get it back."_

 _While a part of the look Steve gave Kasumi in response was understanding, a good deal of it was rather blank when she mentioned the item she was after. "Mind explaining what a graybox is?"_

 _"It's a neural implant; illegal in most places," Kasumi explained as she activated her own version of the implant, which appeared as a holographic set of goggles or glasses, if Steve were to attempt to describe it. "It stores memories, thoughts, secret codes, illicit information, you name it. This one in particular belonged to my late partner, Keiji Okuda. We worked together for a long time…before Hock killed him."_

 _"Sounds like you and your old partner were rather close," Steve noted, having not missed the genuine sadness in Kasumi's voice when she talked about him._

 _Kasumi simply nodded in reply before telling Steve a little bit about said partner. "Keiji was the best hacker I've ever known. Unfortunately, he slipped up and made himself infamous. He stole something he shouldn't, and he warned me it was bad; something that could spark interstellar war if it got out. That information…got him killed."_

 _"Just what was it that he found," Steve asked in concern._

 _"He wouldn't say what it was, just that it was dangerous, and that if it got out, humanity would be in trouble. He encrypted it, wrapped it up in his own memories. To decode the information, you'd have to sift through all the time we spent together, but now, those memories are all that's left of him."_

 _Steve could certainly see all of the reasons why Kasumi would want to get her partner's graybox back, but another thing he could clearly see was that Kasumi seemed to be on the verge of tears at the memory of her old partner, so he figured now would be a good time to change the subject. "Just what do you know about this Donovan Hock? It would be good to know anything you have if we're going to go after him."_

 _Kasumi quickly used the back of her hand to wipe away any trace of the tears that had started to form, and then cleared her throat so that her voice would not be liable to crack as she continued her explanation. "Mister Hock is a 'well respected business man.' Arms dealer, murderer, smuggler, and generally not a great guy. From my understanding of history, he's actually somewhat similar to a man you and Kumo know as Wilson Fisk, only on something of a more small-time scale."_

 _"Spider-Man would know him better than I would actually, seeing as he and other street heroes were more well-known to deal with men like Fisk," Steve corrected, but he did not dispute the point._

 _"Either way, you have a good comparison," Kasumi shrugged. "His mansion's famous for being hard to crack, but I have a way in, and I think you're gonna love it."_

 _"If Hock's really similar to Fisk, then I doubt he's going to take kindly to someone sneaking into his house," Steve pointed out._

 _"Hey, I always expect trouble, Cap, that's why I made the deal with Cerberus to help me out with this in exchange for my joining up with you," Kasumi pointed out._

 _Steve nodded in understanding of this and then stood up straight from where he was so he could start heading out of the room with Kasumi. "When do you want us to get started on this," Steve asked._

 _"Actually Cap, if this is going to work, it would have to be just me and one other person, and while I had originally wanted it to be you who helped me, I think I'd be better off if Kumo were the one to come with me on this," Kasumi revealed._

 _That drew Steve's attention back to Kasumi, as he had not entirely been expecting that. "Care to explain the reasoning for that?"_

 _"Well it would look suspicious if we went in with a team of even three people, and no offense to you, but from my understanding of history, Kumo has a bit more experience dealing with guys like Hock than you do, seeing as most of the time I've heard about how you and the Avengers handled guys like Doctor Doom, Red Skull, Kang the Conqueror, Loki, and that type of thing," Kasumi explained._

 _Steve had to admit that Kasumi did have a point in that regard, and after thinking about it for another minute, he could not deny that if what Kasumi was implying about this heist was anything to go by, then Spider-Man would indeed be the ideal choice to help her with this. He may not have liked having to let two of his team members go off on their own like this, but given the nature of both this task of Kasumi's and their mission to stop the Collectors, they could not really afford to argue on such a thing too much. After thinking these details over for another minute, Steve finally nodded and said, "Alright, just give me the coordinates of the place you need to go to, and I'll have Joker stop there so we can drop you and Spider-Man off."_

 _"Drop us off? What're you going to be doing while we're down there," Kasumi asked, having thought that Cap would want to stay as close as possible while this was going on._

 _"We'll be going after another recruit, or should I say group of recruits," Steve revealed. "We can't exactly wait around for you to finish this task when we've got to stop the Collectors."_

 _"Fair enough," Kasumi shrugged in admittance. "Guess I'd better let Kumo know about the plan then."_

 _Steve had barely nodded in response to this before Kasumi vanished into thin air again, making him sigh a little and wonder just how much of the master thief's claim of not being completely back to normal was true if she was just vanishing like that without any problem._

* * *

"Kasumi? Hey, Kasumi! Are you listening to me, because now is really not a good time for you to be spacing out," Peter suddenly called out, snapping Kasumi out of her little flashback moment.

"Sorry, just thinking about a conversation I had earlier," Kasumi apologized. "What was it you were asking?"

"I was hoping you could fill me in on how we're going to pull this off, because last I checked, infiltrating a big shindig like this is not all it takes to steal from guys who are supposed to be like Fisk," Peter repeated.

"Well, you have been waiting patiently," Kasumi shrugged in reply, and she then pulled up a few images on the car's computer so that she could run through the plan she had devised. "This little 'shindig,' as you called it, is a party that Hock's throwing for his closest friends; a couple dozen of the worst liars, cheaters, and mass murderers you'll ever want to meet, all bringing gifts as a tribute to the man himself. Our tribute is a lovely statue of the Spectre agent gone bad, Saren, rendered with loving detail and filled to the brim with our weapons and armor."

"And I'm guessing that's why you insisted that I only wear my web shooters if I wanted to bring any of my gear with me. You wanted to stash the rest of my suit away in the statue along with your weapons so we could pick up them all up later," Peter inquired.

"Exactly. They wouldn't have had hassled you over a sidearm, so long as it was concealed, but your little web shooters are even better since they'll most likely think they're just a pair of fancy bracelets," Kasumi nodded before returning to her rundown of the plan. "Once we're inside, we'll make our way to Hock's vault door, somewhere in the back of the ballroom. Then, we case the security and start peeling away the layers. The statue should be there, waiting for us to crack it open and arm up, or in your case, Spider-Up. Then we just waltz into the vault and take back Keiji's graybox, and I'll finally get a chance to say goodbye."

Peter had no trouble noting the soft, sorrowful tone in Kasumi's voice at that last bit, but more importantly, he could not help but be impressed with the level of preparation that Kasumi had put into this whole heist. "You've really gone to a lot of lengths for this thing," Peter noted. "Guess Keiji really meant a great deal to you."

"Was I that obvious," Kasumi inquired in full sarcasm. "Keiji's graybox holds a lot of priceless, personal memories. It's all that remains of who he was, but the secret he discovered is dangerous. I wouldn't bring you or anyone here if it wasn't, Kumo."

"Even if that is the case, I'd still be more than happy to help you get it back just for the sake of having something that precious to you," Peter immediately refuted, taking Kasumi by surprise. Seeing that the master thief had a shocked look on her hooded face prompted Peter to explain, "If I had something like that of my parents, Uncle Ben, or anyone from my life back in the Age of Marvels, I wouldn't hesitate for the chance to get it back, so how could I do anything other than help you do the same?"

Kasumi did not know what to say in response, but eventually, she had to let a small smile form on her face as she said, "Thanks Peter."

Peter could not help but note with a small smile that this was the first time that Kasumi had ever really referred to him by his real name instead of Spider-Man or Kumo, which he had learned from Kasumi was the Japanese word for spider, so he knew that the klepto was completely genuine in her appreciation of his help with this and for what he just said. The moment quickly ended though when he saw that they were approaching their destination and felt the car slowing down for when it stopped at the door. "Well, looks like we're in for quite an interesting show tonight."

"That's what I'm going for," Kasumi smirked with slightly excited anticipation just as the car came to a stop. After Peter had stepped out of the car, he kindly offered a hand to help Kasumi out as well, which the master thief happily accepted with a smile, and once she had confirmed that their gift was on its way in with a simple glance in the direction of the gold statue, she looked to Peter and said, "After you, Mister Gunn."

"Of course, dear lady," Peter replied with a teasing smile as he extended his arm for her to take, which Kasumi did with a giggle. "Quick question, are you just supposed to be a nameless girl that I'm bringing to this, or did you actually establish an alias for yourself."

"Honestly, I was content with the former, but if you really need to put a name to my face for this, I'll trust your judgment on it," Kasumi whispered with a teasing smirk.

Peter did not get the chance to reply since they were soon stopped by the security detail that was looking over the statue. Before Peter could ask the obvious question though, someone else beat him to it. "Is there a problem here?"

"No Mister Hock. We're just doing a scan," the guard replied, and Peter took this time to finally get a good look at the man who had stolen the graybox of Kasumi's partner before killing him. Donovan Hock was a man with reasonably tanned skin and neatly trimmed, black hair, with an equally trimmed, thin beard and mustache, and at the moment, he was decked out in an all-white outfit. While the man also seemed like a respectable fellow, it was still easy for Peter to tell that Hock was definitely the kind of person who would have associated with the likes of Wilson Fisk if he were able to, having been around his type of person many times in the past, and he did not need his Spider-Sense to tell him as such.

"I don't believe we've met. Donovan Hock," the man in question stated after turning his attention to Peter, drawing the wall-crawler out of his analysis of the party's host.

"I've heard a lot about you, Mister Hock. Name's Solomon Gunn," Peter nodded before extending his hand out to Hock. When Hock did not accept the offered handshake, Peter was not offended or put into a feeling of awkwardness, because he knew that the man was currently just keeping a skeptical eye on him just to be safe.

"And I've heard a lot about you," Hock remarked in response to Peter's introduction while the undercover hero dropped his hand. "You've been very busy lately, if the extranet is to be believed."

"Well you know what they say: there's no such thing as bad press," Peter shrugged, earning him a small smile from Hock in response.

"Sir, the scanners aren't picking anything up," the guard reported, drawing Hock's attention over to the statue.

After looking over the statue with a subtle, yet still critical eye and humming in thought for a second, Hock finally looked to his guard and said, "I don't think our guests would come all the way here from Ilium just to cause trouble, do you?" The guard simply shrugged in reply as a way of silently saying that he was just doing his job, and Hock then turned his attention back to the two guests that had been stopped at the door. "You may pass through, Mister Gunn, with my apologies, but I'll ask your companion to remain outside."

That was not something that Peter had expected, and from the small glance he shot in Kasumi's direction, it seemed that Kasumi had not been expecting that either. Hoping he could make it sound like simple curiosity, Peter looked to Hock and asked, "Perhaps you could explain why I would need to leave sweet May out here in the cold? I assure you she wouldn't be very threatening to a fly, let alone anyone here."

"That maybe the case, but there's something about the look of your friend that I don't like, so I must ask that she stay outside. Simple as that. You understand I hope," Hock replied.

"Of course, it's no problem at all. After all, men in our line of work can't be too careful," Peter nodded with a fake smile that he hoped Hock would be unable to see through. It seemed to work, because Hock simply nodded and wished him well for while he was at the party before going back inside, leaving Peter and Kasumi a chance to move to one side so that they could make the necessary revisions to the plan.

"Well, that didn't go as I expected," Kasumi admitted once she was sure they were out of earshot.

"So you don't have any clue why he would send you away just because he doesn't like the look of you," Peter questioned.

"No. We've never seen each other in person, and no one outside the team knows what I look like, for reasons that I'm sure you've already figured out," Kasumi replied with a shrug. "Just watching his ass, I'm sure. I can't blame him."

"So do we keep going, or what," Peter asked.

"Of course we're going to go on with the plan. You'll just have to do all the talking while I stay out of sight and watch your back the best I can," Kasumi replied.

"You sure you're going to be okay using your cloak," Peter then questioned in concern. He was well aware that Kasumi did still have some doubts about using her cloak right now, no matter how good it was or what improvements they had made to it before coming here.

"I'll be fine, Pete. It's you I'm worried about," Kasumi admitted.

"Hey it's me, remember? The guy who helped take down crime bosses like Kingpin and the like all the time back in the day," Peter reminded his friend in a playful manner.

"Yeah, that's why I said it," Kasumi quipped back in reply before her cloak shimmered into existence and allowed her to vanish. "We'll keep in radio contact just in case something goes wrong."

Peter just nodded to where he had last seen Kasumi standing and then turned to enter Hock's mansion, though he would be lying if he were to say that he did not start to sweat at least a little bit out of nervousness just then.

* * *

In all honesty, the inside of Hock's mansion was actually pretty close to what Peter had expected: big, lavish, and at the moment, brimming with all kinds of different scum that were trying to pretend they were anything but by dressing up in expensive-looking suits. In all honesty, it reminded him of the times he had been in places like the Osborn home or the few times he had visited Fisk Tower as Peter Parker, but the former freelance photographer did not let himself get swept up in a trip down memory lane because he had a job to do here. After getting a good look at the place once he was inside, Peter set to work trying to find the secret entrance to the vault door. When Kasumi asked why he did not use his Spider-Sense to find it, Peter found himself once again explaining that his extra sense did not work that way unless the thing was rigged with some type of trap. That did not mean that it took longer to find the door, because being someone who had been in fancy places that belonged to criminals like Hock before, Peter knew exactly what to look for, and in no time at all, he found the vault door right in the place that Kasumi said it would be.

After making his way in, Peter took a quick look around, seeing the statue of Saren to his right as he did, and even though he was a century or so behind on the recent technological developments, it was clear as day to him that the vault door was heavily guarded by a serious security system. This was only reinforced when Kasumi reappeared next to him and started running her own analysis of the vault's security, putting names to the devices that Peter did not recognize at once if at all. "Password-protected voice lock, kinetic barrier, DNA scanner…looks like an EX 700 series. Everything a vault needs to be impenetrable," the hooded woman noted with a hand on her chin.

"Careful, because you're starting to make it sound like we might have a problem here," Peter remarked to Kasumi.

"Please! Remember who you're talking to," Kasumi scoffed. "We'll need to get a voice sample for the voice lock, so you'll have to go chat up Hock for that, and we'll have to find a password too. DNA: child's play; we should find plenty of DNA samples in Hock's private quarters."

"Assuming he won't be there when we go looking," Peter muttered while suppressing a shiver at some of the ideas he had about why Hock would be there when he was hosting this party at the moment.

Kasumi just giggled at Peter's remark before returning to what she was saying before. "Finally, the barrier. All we have to do there is cut the power; never fails, if we can find it." Kasumi then looked around once again, making Peter think that she was either double-checking or even triple-checking everything to make sure she had not missed something, until she whispered something he was not entirely expecting. "Keiji could get through a system like this in his sleep, and I'm better."

Peter was almost instantly at Kasumi's side and placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, and his actions earned him a small smile of thanks from Kasumi in response before she turned to leave the room again, signaling that it was time for them to get to work on cracking the vault door open. Almost instantly after walking back out of room, Peter was able to spot the power cable for the kinetic barrier, which he immediately pointed out to Kasumi. Further analysis showed that the cable ran under the floor, and it was clear that even if they wanted to, they would not be able to effectively cut the power at that point in the cable, so Kasumi decided to pull another trick out of her hood.

"I can set your omni-tool to scan for electromagnetic fields. That'll lead you to the junction box we need to cut the power," the master thief stated as she disappeared behind her cloak once more.

Peter silently nodded to her in reply, and a few seconds later, he was able to see the cable running under the floor via his omni-tool. Following this cable allowed Peter to spot a room that was being guarded by a couple of Hock's security, and that instantly peaked his curiosity. Only rooms that were considered very private or very important to men like Hock had guards at them when it came to parties like this; that was something Peter knew full well without even needing much experience with dealing with this type of thing. Making sure to act as casual as possible, Peter simply strode over to the door until one of the guards held an arm out to stop him. "Mister Hock's private rooms are off-limits to guests without security clearance," the guard informed Peter.

"Sorry. I thought this was the way to the bathroom. The place is so complex that I got all turned around," Peter apologized, making sure that he made his excuse as convincing as possible.

"Don't worry about it. Bathrooms for the party are on the other side of the room," the guard nodded as he pointed out the direction Peter would need to head in.

Peter simply nodded in thanks before he continued to follow the cables under the floor, making sure that he kept his casual pace as he did so. He made a point to try and avoid most of the party-goers in the room if he could help it so that he could avoid drawing suspicion, but every now and then he would find himself having to stop for a moment of idle chat with one of said people. Thankfully, it was a conversation about the business that these people dabbled in, but he did pick up a few tidbits here and there regarding some of the people's views on said business, some of which, he could not help but note was a bit outdated, the biggest example was when he heard someone talking about the plan that the major merc gangs on Omega had made to take down Archangel like they were still planning it, a fact that made Peter roll his eyes a little when he heard it. Eventually, Peter reached the point where the cabling came to an end, and found that it did so in the middle of a bookshelf.

Peter had to roll his eyes a little at the cliché that he knew was coming, and he simply reached over to the statue that was on the shelf and pulled it back, revealing a secret compartment behind the shelves where the junction box for the kinetic barrier's cable was hidden. "What," Kasumi asked as she reappeared again and started shutting off the power in the junction box, having seen the eye-roll.

"Nothing, just finding it a little difficult to believe that such clichés are still around even after a century," Peter admitted, indicating the statue he just pulled back on as he did.

"Hey, be glad some of them are. It makes our job easier, and a lot of them are actually pretty nice," Kasumi playfully rebuked just as the junction box shut off.

"I never said otherwise," Peter pointed out as he pushed the statue back into its original position, knowing that it would help if they did not leave any sign that they had tampered with the junction box. "Now, let's go find us that password and get a voice sample from Hock."

"And I thought I was supposed to be taking point on this one," Kasumi remarked with a teasing grin.

"Maybe, but you're not the one who's actually having to mingle with these people," Peter reminded her with a teasing grin of his own. This bit of banter drew a small giggle out of Kasumi right before she vanished from sight once again, and Peter was left to find out where they could get the password they needed from. Thankfully, Kasumi was able to point him in the direction of a security room that they could possibly find the information in, and in no time at all, Peter was standing right in front of the door waiting for Kasumi to open it up.

It was at this point that Peter caught wind of a conversation that was carrying on a short distance away from him. "Some say that Captain America is actually back from the dead. Really," a woman scoffed.

"Oh please; its wishful thinking at best, almost as much as it is to suggest that Commander Shepard is still alive. Everyone knows that the only people to have survived the Age of Marvels are the Guardians of the Galaxy and that Wolverine guy from the X-Men," a man retorted with a dry chuckle.

Hearing these people talk about such things got Peter's blood boiling a little, but he knew he had to maintain control of himself if they were going to pull this off successfully. It was made a lot easier when he heard the man mention the Guardians, as it had quickly brought his mood down a little because it drove him to thoughts of one particular current member of the group. Peter may have not liked it whenever the others teased him about it, but he did have to admit that he wanted to find Carol Danvers if only to let her know that he was alive again. The only problem with that was that the mission they currently had was too important to indulge in things like that, at least in his opinion or compared to what he and Kasumi were doing right now, and Peter also had a sneaking suspicion that Carol would be just as likely to blast him into dust as she was to hug him the minute she saw him again. There were days when he was not sure how to most accurately describe the relationship he had with the Half-Kree woman.

He was soon brought out of his musings when Kasumi told him over the comm. that the door was open now, and he looked up to see that it appeared to have been in such a state for a few minutes, which only further indicated that Kasumi had been trying to get his attention for a little while now. Shaking any lingering thoughts on his social life out of his mind for the moment, Peter quickly slipped into the room and prepared himself for the fight that he would no doubt be facing in a minute. He did this by perching himself on the ceiling while Kasumi opened the final door into the room for them, and the moment it was open, a group of guards started cautiously moving into their line of attack. This was what ended up being the guards' fatal mistake.

The minute they had exposed themselves, Peter swung in and knocked them all out with a few quick kicks that sent them to the ceiling or the wall, where they stayed after getting tied up in Peter's webs. The way he had done so ended up leaving Kasumi rather speechless, as it was executed with a precision and fluidity unlike anything she had seen Peter commit up until now. She knew Peter was good, but what she just saw was something that she had thought was only possible in some of those old Batman movies from the Twenty-First Century; it was definitely impressive. Seeing that any resistance they were likely to encounter had been immobilized by her current partner, Kasumi snapped out of her trance and made her way over to a nearby console while telling Peter to see what he could find while she worked on an idea that had just struck her.

Peter did not end up searching for long, because he quickly found a datapad that someone had been using to message a friend, and said message had just the information they were in there looking for. "Looks like the password is 'Peruggia,'" Peter informed Kasumi.

"Huh…that's the name of the man who stole the Mona Lisa. Nice," Kasumi commented aloud as she finished typing at the console she was working on. "I've just tapped into their communications. Maybe it'll come in handy, but we'll still need that voice sample from Hock if we're going to get in the vault."

"Leave it to me. I'm great at getting people to talk. It's kinda something that I'm the best at," Peter playfully boasted.

"Really? I thought you were best at talking non-stop, not getting other people to do it," Kasumi teased.

"Just watch and learn, Miss Goto. The master is going to work," Peter said in a false-prideful tone.

"This should be good to watch," Kasumi muttered before disappearing again.

* * *

"Okay, I stand corrected," Kasumi found herself admitting not five minutes later. "I said get him talking, and you got him talking, and then some."

Peter could not keep the boastful smile off his face even if he wanted to. After they left the security room, Peter had immediately spotted Hock conversing with a few guests and made his way over to have a chat with the evening's host. He did wait until Kasumi gave him the signal to start getting the man talking of course, but once he had received said signal, it did not take much effort for Peter to get Donovan Hock to give a grand speech. All it really took were a few simple words and well-placed questions, and the man was off, never knowing that his voice was being recorded so that someone could get into his vault. Hock saying that he respected men like Fisk and Osborn for being the true cleaners of their time like he considered himself and his guests to be was a bit unexpected, but it still did not detract from the fact that Peter's claim had been sufficiently proven to Kasumi.

"You see, I told you I had some mad skills," Peter whispered in boast.

"Well let's hope those mad skills can get us into Hock's private rooms, because that's where we'll find a treasure trove of DNA samples," Kasumi replied over the comm. "There's no way we're getting past those guards though."

"Don't worry, kiddo; where there's a spider, there's a way, and in this case, that way leads us over the balcony railing right over here," Peter stated, indicating an out of the way railing just a few feet away from him.

Kasumi had to grin a little in response to this, even though Peter could not see it, and quickly followed after her friend as he climbed over the railing and onto the balcony. It did not take long for the two to spot a contingent of guards on the balcony, and it took even less time for Peter to deal with them as only the amazing Spider-Man could. The instant he had finished analyzing the situation, he quickly leapt into action and web-zipped over to the closest guard, knocking him out and webbing him to the balcony above them, and that guard was soon joined by the second, while the last one was webbed in an out-of-sight point on the wall behind him. Looking over Peter's work from just now, Kasumi found herself very impressed once again with his unexpected skills.

Still, there was one thing that bugged her a little that she had to give voice to. "I think I like it better when you give out some quips and jokes after taking down the bad guys."

"Well, we are kind of pressed for time, and this is a serious situation. My usual wit and clever quips tend to take a backseat under those kinds of circumstances," Peter explained as he hoisted himself up through the window that led into the hallway leading to Hock's private rooms.

Kasumi gave a simple nod of acceptance of this, and quickly accepted Peter's offered hand so that he could help her up into the hallway. Knowing that they would likely encounter more guards at some point if they were not careful, the two kept their respective weapons ready for action until they were inside what seemed to be Hock's private bedroom, at which point, Kasumi locked the door behind them and started setting to work on finding DNA samples they could use to get past the lock. Not wanting to just stand back and watch as Kasumi did all of the work here, Peter was quick to start looking as well, and the two were soon coming every part of the room that they could. It took some time, and various scans of different objects in Hock's room, but eventually, they managed to collect enough DNA samples to help them get past the scanner.

All they had to do now was get back out of Hock's room without anyone noticing, and Kasumi was not sure how they were going to do that without cluing someone in on what they were doing. Peter on the other hand, did have a couple of ideas, and he immediately turned to Kasumi and asked a simple question that the master thief was not expecting. "Do you trust me?"

"Um…yeah, that's part of the reason why I wanted you with me on this," Kasumi replied. The next thing she knew, she was being thrown down on Hock's bed with Peter climbing on top of her.

"Sorry, just follow my lead on this," Peter whispered, and before Kasumi could ask what he meant, she found herself panicking a little when Peter waved his hand at Hock's alarm clock.

There was no doubt that the noise of said clock would draw the attention of the guards, but before Kasumi could demand what Peter was doing, she found herself cut off when Peter had mashed his lips down on hers. Kasumi was completely thrown for a loop, because while she did sometimes flirt with Peter, it was never serious, just playful teasing. That was when she saw the guards coming into the room and she finally caught on to what he was doing, so she quickly started to play along with the ruse.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing in here," one of the guards shouted as he marched over to them.

The two instantly broke apart, each panting heavily while Peter started talking with a bit of a slur and said, "Whoa dude! Can't you see I'm in the middle of something here?"

"I asked you a question, now answer me! What're you doing in Mister Hock's private quarters," the guard repeated as he grabbed Peter by the front of his shirt.

"What's it look like, man? I'm getting some while I can. I mean, she's been hitting the happy juice all night, so I figured…wait, did you say this was Mister Hock's room? I thought this was a private meeting hall," Peter slurred once again, hoping that he was selling the little drunken party guest act.

Not wanting Peter to get too roughed up right now, Kasumi quickly started giggling like a drunken girl and said, "Oh private meeting hall? Not that private, now, huh?"

The guards looked between the two of them for a minute before the one holding Peter finally released him and said, "Alright, I'll let you off with a warning. Just get out of here, and Mister Hock won't have to hear about this." He then glance over at Kasumi again and then leaned in to whisper, "If you're still hoping to get some action from her though, I'd recommend going to the upstairs bathroom though. It's soundproof and out of the way."

"Thanks for the tip," Peter replied, hoping that the blush he started getting would not be noticed.

Thankfully, that seemed to be the case, as the guards let Peter and Kasumi leave, with Peter pretending to support Kasumi as she stumbled in a drunken state, and they were soon well out of the guards' sight and back outside the entrance to the hallway that said guards had been standing when Peter first saw them. Once they were sure that the guards would not see them, they ceased their performance and Kasumi vanished behind her cloak again, but she was not planning on just leaving things there. "I think you enjoyed that a little too much, Kumo," Kasumi teased.

"Please," Peter tried to play off. "If anything it felt like I was trying to make out with my sister. You know if I ever actually had a sister."

Kasumi could not help but go quiet when she heard Peter refer to her like that because that was probably the last thing she was expecting to hear. She had never had anyone refer to her in a familial term like that before, so she was not entirely sure how to react to having someone refer to her as such now, even if it was a bit indirect. "Let's just…let's just get back to the vault door and get in there," Kasumi found herself muttering.

"Okay, sure," Peter quickly agreed, and the two were off to the entrance to Hock's vault once again.

* * *

Kasumi could not help but sigh in relief when both the DNA scanner and voice lock admitted them access and the door to the vault opened up for them, proving that their hard work to get it open had paid off, and while she made sure that any security cameras inside the elevator down to the vault were placed on an infinite loop, Peter took the opportunity to open up the secret compartment under the statue they had brought as their gift to Hock and then change into his armor. Sliding on his boots, chest armor, and other parts of the suit that were easily locked into place was simple enough, as was sliding on the gloves and repulsor gauntlets, and once all of that had been locked into place, Peter grabbed the helmet, only pausing to look at the face that had been on his old mask for so many years now before slipping it on over his head as well, and letting the mask slide closed once it was on, effectively transforming the undercover Peter Parker into Spider-Man.

"Okay, I'll admit it; you look a lot better in that outfit than you do in evening wear. Maybe it's the air of mystery that you give off by not letting other people see your face," Kasumi commented as she walked over to collect her own weapons.

"Just be glad I was able to get the whole thing back to top-working condition again before we got here. I don't even want to think about how much more difficult it would have been if this suit were still in the same state I had to have it in back on Haestrom," Peter nodded as he quickly checked over the status of his two fully repaired repulsors and web shooters.

"Well, so long as you're ready, let's go finish this," Kasumi remarked in reply, her voice having just a hint of nervousness to it as she walked into the elevator.

Spider-Man said nothing as he joined Kasumi in the elevator, and a few minutes later, the two found themselves stepping into the massive, private vault of Donovan Hock. Of course, saying it was massive was something of an understatement, because one of the first things that Peter noted, much to his ire, was that the room was literally big enough to hold Lady Liberty's head and still have room for a number of other treasures. He could say that because he actually saw said statue's head hanging over the room like a kind of centerpiece, and while he knew the statue had been victim to a terrorist attack at one point, it still burned him up that it was hanging here in some criminal's treasure vault like a gold doubloon in a pirate's treasure chest. After calming himself down though, Peter was able to glance around the room and see various other treasures and valuable items that Hock had gotten is hands on. Some of them being statues of krogan warriors, others some form of artwork from an alien world, and there was even a large model of a turian ship that Kasumi had described as a turian _Titanic_.

"Wow. Imagine this thing coming at you in a dark alley," Kasumi suddenly said, drawing Peter's attention over to a statue that the hooded thief had stopped to observe. The statue in question was a giant monster with large horns on its head, its mouth open in a roar, and what looked to be medieval-like, spiked armor on one shoulder and both arms, at least to Peter.

"Considering the kinds of things I've had coming after me in my life, I don't think I'd have a hard time doing so," Spidey commented to Kasumi, getting a nod from her in response afterward. "How're we supposed to find that graybox in here though?"

"I've had a scanner running that'll lead us right to it since we stepped off the elevator," Kasumi replied, bringing up her omni-tool to show off said scanner. "And I can tell we're getting close."

Spider-Man simply nodded and let Kasumi and her scanner lead on from here, slowly moving through the vault and the various items in it that were on display like museum exhibits, the only sound to be heard at that point being the scanner as it did its work. Eventually, the two came to a stop before a pedestal that had a pair of guns atop it, but Kasumi did not seem to pay much mind to the weapons, as her attention was more focused on the small, grey object that was sitting in front of them. From where Peter was standing, it did not seem like much, but he could tell from how rigid Kasumi had become the minute she laid eyes on the object that it must have been what they were here for.

"Oh my god. There it is," Kasumi softly gasped, confirming Spider-Man's suspicions to be true. The master thief then activated her omni-tool once again so that she could disable any security that was keeping her late partner's graybox from being taken carelessly, but the two soon discovered that there was not going to be much point in doing so.

 _"Don't bother Miss Goto, it's code-locked,"_ Hock's voice suddenly said as his face suddenly appeared before them in a massive holographic image, bringing Kasumi's efforts to a stand-still for the moment.

"Well, that's definitely a new spin on getting a big head," Spider-Man muttered to Kasumi, hoping that he could at least get a small smile out of her right now, only to deflate a little when he saw that she just continued to scowl at Hock's image.

 _"I had a feeling that was you at the door, and I knew if that was really you, you'd get through anyway,"_ Hock continued.

"You know me; I don't like to disappoint," Kasumi quipped in response.

Hock just brushed Kasumi's witty reply off and continued to act like he was holding all the cards at the moment. _"I need what's in your graybox, Kasumi. You know I'm willing to kill you for it. I'll admit your skills are impressive; you got into my vault like I'd left it open, but you're still going to die, screaming, just like…"_ If Hock was going to say anything more after that, it was cut off by the sound of a repulsor being fired, followed by shattering glass, drawing everyone's attention over to Spider-Man, who had just destroyed a large vase. _"Nooooo!"_

"Yeah, listen buddy, I've been around a long time, and I've heard more than enough of my fair share of bad guy 'blah-blah-blah' monologues, so how about you spare us the torture of listening to you justify your reasons for doing all of this and we just skip to the part where we kick your butt three ways to Ilium and back, okay," Spider-Man asked in a full show of wit, driving Hock to deliver a silent, vicious glare at him in response, both for his comment and for destroying the vase.

"Hah! That shut him up," Kasumi chuckled, right at the same moment her omni-tool beeped to signify that any remaining security measures protecting Keiji's graybox had just been disabled, a fact that did not sit well with Hock at all.

 _"KILL THEM,"_ the criminal business man shouted as his guards rushed into the room, prompting both Spider-Man and Kasumi to run for cover before the bullets could start flying.

"Now where have I seen this movie before," Spider-Man sarcastically asked.

Instead of waiting for an answer, Spider-Man just took the initiative of leaping into action, and he was soon swinging, ducking, and weaving through the various items in Hock's vault and the bullets that were flying in his and Kasumi's direction while retaliating with a few blasts from his repulsor gauntlets and some web bullets that either jammed their enemies' guns or blinded them for a moment. Spidey eventually saw a chance to strike back, and he immediately took that chance by rushing forward with a pull of the web-line he had just shot in the direction of one of Hock's thugs. When the web-swinger had landed on the ground in front of said thug, he sprang up and delivered a hard, right uppercut into the thug, sending the merc flying into a display behind him, where he was soon pinned down by Spider-Man's webs. Spidey then spun around in order to avoid being hit by the rain of bullets that had come from his right, and when he came out of the spin, facing the shooter, he immediately let loose a blast from his left repulsor that knocked the offender out in a single burst. After jumping up to the nearby wall, avoiding a grenade that had been thrown in his direction when he did so, Spider-Man aimed one of his web shooters at the person who had thrown the explosive, and fired a Taser Web that shocked his attacker into unconsciousness.

Spider-Man was about to fire another web-line to move to another position for his next attack, when he noticed that all sounds of gunfire had completely ceased. Knowing that there were more than just three guys attacking him and Kasumi, Peter looked around to the room until he finally saw the hooded thief herself standing over the last of Hock's hired guns with something of a satisfied grin on her face and Keiji's graybox in her free hand. You did not need to be a rocket scientist or even Tony Stark to know what had happened to the last of their opposition.

"Well, that was fun," Kasumi lightly panted once Spider-Man had swung back over to her side.

"Yeah, but I think I've had enough fun at this party," Spidey quipped in reply. "Please tell me that you know of a backdoor out of here."

"I'm checking the blueprints of the place right now," Kasumi revealed as she quickly tapped through several different readouts on her omni-tool. After another second or so, Kasumi found what she was looking for and stated, "There's a landing pad to the east. We can use that to call in a shuttle and get out of here."

Peter just nodded in response and then started jogging towards the door that led in the direction that Kasumi indicated while tapping the side of his helmet to activate his comm. link. "Joker, Cap, this is Spider-Man. If you guys are getting this, we could really use a ride home right about now," Spidey stated, but unfortunately, all he seemed to get was static. "Joker? Cap? _Normandy_ , this is Spider-Man, do you copy? Kasumi and I need you to send us a shuttle, now." When he received only static in response, he looked to Kasumi and said, "Well, that's not a good sign."

"We might be in too deep for a clear signal to get through. Just try again when we're closer to the outside," Kasumi reasoned.

Spider-Man gave her another nod and continued to lead the way out while making sure he did not go too far ahead. He may have been taking point because of how his Spider-Sense would warn them of any threats, but he still needed Kasumi to make sure they were going in the right direction.

* * *

If either of the two had possessed any delusions that led them to believe getting out of Hock's vault would have been easier than getting in was, they were all quickly dispelled the minute that they walked out of the door to the landing pad, and not just because of the fact that Hock found out they were in the vault before Kasumi had retrieved Keiji's graybox from where it rested or because of how Hock sent a number of mercs into the vault to kill them. What should have been a straight shot to the landing pad was quickly turned into a round-about obstacle course when Hock sealed the main exit closed in an attempt to trap them inside, forcing the two to take an alternate route that ultimately led them into conflict with more of Hock's men. Some part of Kasumi could not help but feel that there would have been a lot more dead bodies and they would have incurred more injuries if Spider-Man were not her partner for this, because really, the web-swinger was able to keep them both safe while subduing most of their attackers without killing any of them. She could have done without him sometimes pushing her down behind cover when she knew he was well aware of the fact she could take care of herself, but then again, she was not the one with a Spider-Sense that let them know of an incoming attack before they even saw it, and it took very little to remember that Peter was someone who would throw himself into the line of fire for anyone if he thought he could help, so Kasumi just let it slide.

That did not mean that the master thief did nothing to keep them from getting killed, as she was constantly moving throughout the battlefield, cloaked or otherwise, and gunning down anyone that Spider-Man was not able to deal with right away for one reason or another, figuratively and literally. If someone from Spidey's time had seen Kasumi moving about, they would probably think that she was of some relation to Felicia Hardy or anyone else like the Black Cat, just from how she was easily scaling over various crates and boxes, flipping around the battlefield, and even knocking bad guys out through a combination of a variety of martial arts moves and her omni-tool. This was a fact that Spidey eventually voiced to Kasumi, but the hooded girl just scoffed humorously and said, "Please, don't try to compare me to a legend like Black Cat. I doubt I could ever be half as good as she was if she were around today."

Peter was not sure whether or not he should tell Kasumi that he was pretty sure that she was probably the closest thing to the new Black Cat of this century that one could get in his opinion, but he eventually decided that such topics of conversation were better left until later, because at long last, they had made it out to the landing pad. With nothing but the various crates, cranes, and pipes ahead of them, Spider-Man did not need to be an expert to know that there was a likely chance that this would end up becoming a battlefield that both sides could use to their advantage somehow, so he quickly attempted to contact the _Normandy_ again. This time, he got a response, much to his and Kasumi's relief.

 _"Hey Spidey. Sorry if we're a little late; we had to take a slight detour for our newest shipmates,"_ Joker apologized. _"How's the party going?"_

"Oh you know; typical society party that acts as a cover for criminal business. Fancy-dressed lowlifes, mercs acting as security guards, soothing jazz music, and of course, mercs trying to kill us heroes for messing with their boss's stuff," Spider-Man casually replied as though it were no big deal.

 _"Wait, what was that last part again,"_ Joker asked in shock.

"Exactly what it sounded like. Hock got wise to us and now his mercs are trying to kill us. We're on a landing pad on the west side of the estate," Spider-Man started to say.

"East side," Kasumi corrected.

"The east side of the estate, and we could really use a ride home right about now," Spider-Man finished after correcting himself.

 ** _"I have established a lock on your coordinates, Spider-Man,"_ ** EDI reported.

 _"And I will be sending a shuttle your way now,"_ Joker pointedly interrupted. _"Try to stay alive until then. Better yet, make sure you come back alive both so you can meet the new recruits and so that we can be sure that I don't flash a certain AI core. Seriously, you and Cap are practically the only ones who can help make sure that I stay sane with this thing constantly looking over my shoulder."_

Peter just smirked in good humor at Joker's continuing predicament with EDI, and replied, "Don't worry about us too much. I'm sure we're through the worst of what Hock can throw at us, and I'm going to have to call you back Joker, because I just realized what I said."

Not two minutes after Spider-Man had ended the communication with the ship had his last few words proven true, because Spidey and Kasumi were soon acquainted with the sounds of a ship's engines humming and drawing closer to them, and when they looked up to the source, they were greeted with a gunship like the one that Spidey had taken down back on Omega, only this one had a kinetic barrier surrounding it. Neither of them needed a warning sense to know that they needed to duck into cover when the ship started firing its machine gun at them, nor did they need to think hard in order to figure out who was flying the ship.

 _"You could've done this the easy way, Goto. Allow me to show you the hard way,"_ Hock's voice openly mocked over the gunship's speakers, and he was soon firing at them again.

As he continued the barrage of bullets, Spider-Man and Kasumi were both forced to find cover anywhere that they could while the web-head had to pause and tie up a few of the remaining mercs that were chasing after them every now and then, and it was during one of these pauses that Peter realized he was not really having to do that much to avoid getting shot by Hock, indicating one simple thing: Donovan Hock was not a very good shot with that gunship's weapons. Knowing this only made it a little easier to avoid being hit by the weapons dealer's fire, because there was no way that they were going to be able to deal any damage to the gunship while its kinetic shield was still active. Even Spider-Man's repulsors and Taser Webs could not penetrate or even weaken the shield around the ship, as proven when Spidey tried hitting it with both, meaning the only way they were going to get rid of Hock before the shuttle arrived and before they were blasted too pieces by him would be if the shield overloaded or was just shut down by some crazy miracle.

In the end, it turned out that they did not really need a miracle to disable the shields on Hock's ship; they just needed Kasumi to find an opening, and she soon did. "Got a clear shot! I'm going in," Kasumi shouted as she turned and started to run.

"Wait, what? Kasumi? KASUMI," Spider-Man shouted, but he was soon forced to duck down again in order to avoid being hit by gunfire from Hock's ship.

If Kasumi had noticed Spidey's panicked screams, she had ultimately ignored them in favor of focusing on what she was doing, and in no time at all, she was making a mad climb up the nearby pipes. With a few well-timed jumps and climbing skills that Peter had only seen used by himself, other spider-themed heroes, and people like Felicia Hardy, Natasha Romanoff, and Daredevil, Kasumi was soon perched on top of the pipe that was highest off the ground, and she only paused for a moment before breaking out into a run until she was at the end of the pipe, where she leapt into the air. When she landed again, it was on top of Hock's gunship, and the Japanese klepto did not hesitate to access her omni-tool and start hacking into the ship's systems to shut down the shield surrounding it. Hock must have realized what she was doing, because he was soon trying to shake Kasumi off, but the master thief's grip was firm and kept her where she was until she eventually flipped herself over to where she would be standing just over the cockpit where her foe could see her. Kasumi merely gave a mock salute in response to Hock's glare as he tried in vain to reestablish his gunship's shields, and she then flipped off the gunship and into the air before landing in crouch next to Spider-Man.

"Shield's down. Let's tear that thing apart," Kasumi reported with a bit of a growl.

"You read my mind, Black Cat Two," Spider-Man grinned behind his helmet while charging up his repulsors to their maximum output and readying his web shooters with fresh cartridges, earning himself a grin from Kasumi when he spoke.

From that point on, Kasumi was playing decoy and avoiding Hock's fire while Spider-Man spun through the air firing repulsor blasts from his gauntlets along with a few webs that ended up blinding Hock's view of the battlefield, making his shots even more terrible than they already were. Occasionally, Kasumi would use her cloak to further hide herself until she was in a position to throw a grenade at Hock's ship, rendering even more damage to the vessel in addition to what it had already incurred. The two continued this dance of destruction until finally, Hock's ship went up in a brilliant explosion, no doubt taking its pilot with it, and all that was left to deal with were a pair of mercs who immediately ran off the minute that the two turned their attention to them. They were not stupid enough to take on a pair of fighters that had just taken out their former boss's gunship on their own.

Once he was sure they were out of danger for the moment, Spider-Man collapsed against a crate that was next to Kasumi panting a little as he said, "Well, that happened."

"Still think that this turned out like all those other crime-boss-run parties you've been too," Kasumi asked in a breathless voice of her own.

"A little bit, actually. Just replace the gunship with a nutcase in a crazy suit of some kind or a psycho on a glider," Spider-Man quipped in response.

Kasumi just grinned in reply to Spider-Man's joke and then leveled him with a look and said, "You know, I'm pretty sure I told you to not try and compare me to a legend like Felicia Hardy. I know you two were close once, but I'm telling you, that I could never dream of being anything like her. She can do a lot of stuff that I can do without the tech I have."

"I know, and you might be somewhat right about all of that, but I'm still going to maintain that if she were around in this day and age, Felicia would definitely find an equal in you," Spider-Man informed Kasumi in full honesty. The master thief had to blush a little at the compliment, drawing a smile from Peter as he opened the mask on his helmet to show it before he added, "Besides, who said you were the only one who could give out fancy nicknames on the team? After that little stunt you just pulled, I'm definitely gonna be calling you Cat Two from now on, so you're just gonna have to deal with it."

Kasumi just chuckled in response as a soft smile reached her face and she softly replied, "Whatever you say…Kumo-ani."

The addition to Kasumi's nickname for him drew an arched eyebrow of confusion from Spider-Man, but he did not get a chance to question her on it as their shuttle back to the _Normandy_ chose just then to arrive. Deciding to find out later, Spider-Man slowly stood up again, helped Kasumi back to her feet as well, and then led the way over to the shuttle so that they could finally leave for their ship, and so that Kasumi could finally get what she needed from Keiji's graybox.

* * *

While the shuttle was on its return trip to the _Normandy_ , Kasumi found herself incredibly anxious to access her late partner's graybox, right to the point where she ended up deciding that she could not wait until they got back to the ship to look at what was inside. Peter did not argue with her when she insisted that they look at its data now, partly because he was pretty sure that whatever secret Kasumi's partner had discovered was best left out of Cerberus' hands and partly because he could see how much the wait was killing her, and he quickly helped Kasumi set up everything they needed in order to access the neural implant. When he saw that everything was ready on his end, Peter gave Kasumi a simple nod to signal as such, and Kasumi returned it with one of her own before inserting the device into the appropriate plug-in.

While Peter was just watching everything from the display on the holo-screen in front of him, from Kasumi's perspective, it was like she had stepped into a vast, expanse of shooting stars while her late partner stood before her just as she had remembered him, bringing a sad smile to her face when she saw him. It was at this point that a message from Keiji started playing, and even without hearing him mention her name, it was obvious to Kasumi that Keiji had left it for her.

 _"Kasumi, if you're seeing this, it's because I'm dead,"_ Keiji's recording said. _"The information we found is all here. It's big Kasumi, and if the council ever got wind of this, the Alliance could be implicated. Kasumi, I…I encrypted the information to keep it safe, and I uploaded the encryption key to your graybox, so no one can get the whole package, but if I'm dead, and if anyone knows about this, then I've made you a target my love. I'm so…so sorry."_

As the message continued playing, Kasumi walked through the expanse looking through the images of data that were inside Keiji's graybox, until she stopped to look at one particular piece of information: the memories that Keiji held of his time together with her, a time that to this day she still considered to be the happiest moments of her life. Seeing these memories and hearing her late lover's voice again eventually started to draw the beginnings of sad tears to Kasumi's eyes, and she found that she could barely say anything more than one word. "Keiji…" she had muttered sadly.

 _"I know you Kasumi,"_ the recording continued, all while Kasumi continued to watch the video memories of her time together with Keiji. _"You'll want to keep these memories forever, but you don't need some neural implant to know I'll always be with you. Please Kasumi…destroy these files. There's nothing more I can do to protect you."_

That got Kasumi's attention away from the memories that she was watching, and she was immediately in front of the avatar of her partner that had been relaying the message. "I…I can't do that! This is all that's left," Kasumi protested, the tears that had been starting to form now slowly coming to the surface as she tried in vain to think of another way to keep the memories and destroy the data that Keiji had found.

Sadly, Kasumi could not think of anything, and it seemed that Keiji had not been able to either, because his message then ended with five simple words. _"Goodbye Kasumi. I love you."_

Kasumi immediately grabbed the avatar of her late lover in the tightest hug she could manage, and she held that hug until the recording finally came to a stop, prompting the world of shooting stars to vanish from her sight and become replaced by the interior of the shuttle while Spider-Man deactivated his console and moved to try and do something to comfort her. "There must be a way to destroy only the information and keep the memories intact, maybe by transferring a copy of the memories from Keiji's graybox into yours," Peter suggested.

"It doesn't work like that, Peter," Kasumi sadly replied. "And besides, Keiji's a master at encrypting files. He laced the information into his memories, so you can't get one without experiencing the other."

Peter really hated this. Kasumi had worked so hard to get her late partner's graybox back, not just so that she could keep dangerous information out of the wrong hands, but also so that she could get some real closure, but now, the ghost of her lover was asking her to destroy the only thing that was left him both for her sake and the sake of the wider galaxy. It just did not seem fair to Kasumi, and he could really understand how she felt at the moment, which only made it that much harder for him to say what he did. "I know it hurts, Kasumi, and believe me, if I were in your place right now, I'd be just as hesitant if not more so about destroying this for the sake of the greater good and all that. Even if my own parents or Uncle Ben were the ones asking me to do something like this, I'm not sure I could, but if he really believes that destroying this information is the best way to save others and more importantly, to save yourself, then you can't just ignore that."

"I know, Peter. I just…I can't. This is all that's left of him," Kasumi cried, her tears now falling freely without any restrictions whatsoever.

Being one who hated to see such a nice person cry, especially in the case of someone like Kasumi, it came as no shock to Peter that he was quickly scooping the poor girl up in a comforting hug while she let her tears steadily fall onto his shoulder. Seeing Kasumi like this was making Peter feel a little choked up as well, like he was about to start crying a little as well, because he knew, probably better than a lot of other people could, that for Kasumi, it was not just a matter of deleting these memory files; to her, it was like she was killing Keiji all over again. "I know it hurts, but you have to realize that this isn't all that's left of him," Peter softly whispered as he rubbed her back, drawing a confused sniffle from Kasumi when he did. "You are still here, Kasumi, and so long as you are still alive, a small piece of Keiji will always still be here in your heart. Just like a piece of my parents, of my Uncle Ben, of Aunt May, of everyone I've cared about is still inside of me."

Kasumi found herself unable to speak right then, so she simply nodded into Peter's shoulder as she started to regain control of her tears again. When she finally did, Peter released her from the hug and stepped back as he said, "If it'll help make things easier, I can do it for you. You don't even have to watch. Just turn around and let me take care of it."

"I…okay," Kasumi finally nodded as she stepped away from the console that would do the deed. "Just get it over with…please."

Peter only nodded in reply and then turned to Kasumi's console, only sparing her one final glance before he typed in the necessary command code to do as Keiji had asked. A minute later, the image of Keiji disappeared from view with a soft whir, and the files were all gone, much to Kasumi's sorrow. The hooded girl found herself unable to stand any longer at that point, so she just collapsed into a nearby chair before letting her tears fall freely once again, practically sobbing as she did. This drew Peter to her side again, where he had soon wrapped her in his arms for another comforting hug, which Kasumi gladly accepted with great relief. The two ended up staying like that until Kasumi had calmed down again and the _Normandy_ was in sight.

* * *

When the shuttle landed in the _Normandy_ 's hangar, Spider-Man told Kasumi that he would give Cap a summarized report on what happened if she was not feeling up to it, and that the super soldier would have to wait a little bit before asking her for the full details, and Kasumi gratefully accepted the offer before bidding farewell to Peter, once again calling him Kumo-ani when she did. Just before she vanished though, Peter managed to stop her and ask what the new addition to her nickname for him meant. Kasumi's only response was to smile and say, "Kumo-ani; it means, Spider-brother."

Peter immediately became a little shocked that Kasumi would suddenly consider him as such a person, but in the end, he had to admit that he was certainly flattered that she felt that way, so he simply smiled and nodded appreciatively in response to show he was happy that she considered him as such a person, and then just watched as she walked off and disappeared behind her cloak once again. It had been a long time for Peter since someone had last referred to him like a sibling, the last that he could remember being his most recent clone, Kaine, so to hear someone refer to him as such now was certainly a welcome breath of fresh air to the spider hero. As a result, he kept a smile on his face all the way to the conference room, where EDI had told him Cap was currently located along with the new additions to the team. "Hey, Cap, you'll be happy to know that we succeeded in our mission, and that while it's definitely helped Kasumi to get her groove back, it did end up being an emotionally taxing ordeal for her, so I'd give some time before asking her for any…of the…details," Peter announced when he walked in, only to end up trailing off at the end when he saw who was in the room with Steve.

Standing around the table, was probably one of the strangest groups that most people would ever have laid eyes on, but to Peter Parker, the amazing Spider-Man, it was more familiar than it was strange. On the left side of the table, from Peter's perspective of the room, was a man with grey skin and red tattoos, a green skinned woman in a tight, sleeveless black outfit and long, black hair with red tips, and a man in black pants and boots, a grey shirt, and a red jacket, while on the opposite side was a rather large raccoon standing on its hind legs, and what appeared to be a walking tree. At the head of the table was Captain America, who could not help but smile in slight amusement at the awestruck gaze that had fallen onto Peter's face, which was currently visible since he still had his helmet's face mask open.

"Spidey, I'd like you to meet the _Normandy_ 's newest crewmembers: the Guardians of the Galaxy; not that you really need the introduction, I'm sure," Captain America announced.

At that point, the five were instantly rushing over to Peter with smiles on their faces, with the leader of the Guardians being the first to reach him. "Yo Parker! Good to see ya again, Bro," Peter "Star-Lord" Quill exclaimed as he exchanged a fist-bump with Spidey.

"It is certainly a welcome sight to see another familiar, friendly face on a ship that bears the mark of an otherwise questionable organization," Drax commented as he slapped Peter on the back, probably a little too hard if the slight wince Peter gave in response was any indication.

"I never thought I'd say this, but it is good to see you again, Web-Head," Gamora admitted with a small smile.

"Sweet new outfit, Webs. Looks like you're really packin' some heat in that thing too! Any chance I can get a better look later," Rocket complimented while eyeing up Peter's armor like a kid when they spotted a toy that they really wanted in the store.

"I am Groot," the tree alien stated in his usual three words, which Peter immediately knew to mean that Groot was definitely happy to see him again.

"Okay, when Cap said that he would be going after a group of recruits, I didn't think it would be you guys! Things just got a lot more awesome around here," Spidey stated happily.

"Well, there's definitely no mistaking that voice. Glad to see you have once again eluded death, Peter," a new, female voice suddenly said, drawing Peter's attention to another individual who until just recently had been hidden behind Groot. When Peter saw this particular woman, he could not help but gasp in shock once again, because despite looking quite a bit older than the last time they had met, there was no hiding that this brown haired woman who was dressed in a black outfit, dark blue boots, yellow gloves, and yellow armor that covered her arms and torso was the same young woman that he had known from the X-Men a century ago.

"Kitty? Kitty Pryde," Spidey gasped in awe, earning him a small smile and a nod from Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde in response. A minute later, the two had wrapped one another in a tight, friendly hug, laughing at their sudden reunion. When Spidey finally pulled back from the hug, he could not help but chuckle a little more even as he asked, "How're you even still alive after all this time? I mean, I can understand Logan and maybe Laura and some other guys with powers like Logan's, but you…did you suddenly get rapid healing powers sometime since I had been gone?"

Kitty just smiled and shook her head as she said, "Not exactly. Just a little miracle of alien medicine courtesy of the Shi'ar Empire and Spartax. Add that in with the fact that my phasing powers occasionally slowed down my aging a bit now and then, and well…here I am." She then paused for a minute before she added, "Also I may have a little bit of cosmic power now, so that helps too."

"You…you have cosmic powers now," Spidey asked in shock.

"Yeah," Kitty beamed as though she were being modest about it.

"Okay, that is cool. Looks like the Shadowcat has really upped her game, huh Miss Pryde," Spidey joked.

"You don't know the half of it," Kitty smirked. "Oh, by the way, it's Mrs. Pryde-Quill now, actually."

"What," Spidey asked in confusion.

"Oh yeah, Kitty and I are married," Star-Lord elaborated with a smile.

"Really," Spider-Man exclaimed, earning nods from the both of them. "Well, I know this is probably several years late, but all the same, congrats you two!"

"Thanks," the two replied simultaneously.

"Yeah, yeah, and as a result of her tying the knot with Quill, she's decided that she'd rather be known as Star-Lady now instead of Shadowcat," Rocket added.

"I am Groot," Rocket's faithful partner told him.

"I don't care if you do think it's fitting, I just think it's just a bunch of extra mushy stuff that I don't need to see," Rocket argued with a huff.

"Well with you six with us, I'd say it's a safe bet that the Collectors should have a whole new reason to run scared," Spider-Man interrupted before any fighting could break out.

"I believe you mean the seven of us," Drax corrected.

Spidey glanced around the room for a minute, only to confirm that no one else had escaped his notice before now, much to his slight disappointment since he was expecting one particular person to be here with the Guardians after hearing so many times how that person was among their ranks now, and then looked back to Drax and said, "Uh, I'm only counting six of you, Drax old buddy."

"That's because our seventh member is down in the starboard cargo hold helping to organize what Rocket's claimed as our space," Gamora explained.

Before anymore could be said, the door to the hallway whooshed open once again, admitting someone else into the room, and Parker found himself going stiff when he recognized the voice of this particular individual. "Hey, guys. I think I've got everything set up, so if you want to head down and check it out after this, feel free to at…any…"

When the voice had trailed off and left the sentence unfinished, Peter finally turned around and found himself greeted by the very person he had found himself thinking about more than anyone else since arriving in this century. There, standing just a few feet from him, was a blonde haired woman who looked as though she could be a supermodel, decked out in a blue and red costume that had a golden star in the center of her chest. She had grown her hair back out to its original length from the short, bob cut she had it in the last time he saw her, but that only made it just as easy to identify her as her striking blue eyes did, and the fact that her eyes were currently fixated in awed surprise on him, she clearly recognized him just as easily as he had her.

The two were so transfixed on one another that they did not even notice how everyone was moving away from them to give them some space, but eventually, the bubble of silence that had formed around the two ended up being popped when Spider-Man finally whispered, "Carol?"

Carol Susan Jane Danvers, better known to the galaxy as the current Captain Marvel just continued to stare in silence until she finally asked, "It's really you, isn't it…Peter Parker?"

For a moment, Peter could not say anything in response, until finally he just gave a small smile and replied, "Yeah, it's me. Peter Parker, your friendly intergalactic Spider-Man." When Carol said nothing in response to this, Peter's smile fell into a concerned look and he asked, "What's wrong? Don't you at least have anything you want to ask me?"

Eventually Carol's wide-eyed gaze fell away from Peter, and she lowered her head a little so that her bangs hid her eyes from view as she muttered, "How long?"

When he looked to the others for clarification as to what she meant, Peter only received a number of shrugs and confused looks in reply to signify that they did not know what she meant either, so he ended up only asking, "How long what?"

"How long have you been alive again," Carol elaborated in a soft voice that sent a bit of a nervous shiver up Peter's spine.

Nonetheless, Peter still looked over to Steve and asked, "Uh Cap, how long has it been since I came onto the ship?"

Captain America crossed his arms in thought for a minute before he replied, "I'm not sure, but I think it's been a few weeks, or maybe a month at the most. Is that right EDI?"

 **"Yes Captain Rogers. That approximation is an accurate measure of time since Spider-Man had joined the _Normandy_ 's crew,"** the AI responded.

"Okay," Peter nodded hesitantly before turning back to Carol. "So it's been about three months or so, give or take."

"A few months, huh? Okay then," Carol muttered in response. A minute later, that familiar tingling in Peter's head that he knew to be his Spider-Sense started blaring at him for some reason, and he immediately discovered what it was when an energy blast nearly fried him to a crisp had he not jumped up to the ceiling. "You complete and utter _asshole_ , Peter Parker," Carol screamed, her eyes literally glowing with both energy and anger as she charged up another burst of energy. "You come back from the dead after nearly a _century_ , and not _once_ , in the several months since then, do you even _think_ of letting any of us know that you're alive?!"

"Hey, that wasn't my fault! I was kinda stuck on Omega fighting gangs with Garrus right from day one in this…HEY," Spider-Man tried to protest, only to scream in fright when Carol threw a punch at him that ended up denting the ceiling after he dodged it.

"Oh so you couldn't take a break from your 'great responsibility' to one station to even try and look us up?! Is that it?!" Clearly Carol was not too willing to listen to any excuses that Peter had, because she was just brimming with anger at the moment.

"I didn't even think that anyone else I knew was alive! And in case you hadn't heard, I just got dumped in here after Octavius tried to wipe me from my own…YIKES! WILL YOU STOP TRYING TO KILL ME FOR A MINUTE AND LET ME EXPLAIN?" Peter's attempts to placate Carol's rage were rather admirable, but they were continuing to prove fruitless when she only increased the speed at which her attempts to hit him were coming.

"NO, now stand still so I can squash you like the bug you are," Carol roared in response.

"Never! And spiders are arachnids," Spider-Man quipped as his helmet snapped closed. After a quick leap to avoid Carol's next attack, Spidey fired a web-line and pulled himself out the door so that he could take off running, with a still very pissed off Captain Marvel hot on his tail practically screaming bloody murder.

When the two had left and the sounds of Carol's attempts to harm Spider-Man finally faded into silence, Steve glanced around the room to see the surprisingly small amount of damage that Carol's attempts to inflict pain on Spidey had caused before his gaze finally settled on the other six Guardians of the Galaxy who were just staring back at him in silence. "Still think it was a good idea to hold off on telling her that Spidey was on my crew until now," Cap finally questioned.

The six Guardians of the Galaxy exchanged a quick look amongst themselves before Kitty turned back to Cap and said, "Probably not as much as we originally thought it was. Still, she actually seems to be taking it better than I thought she would have."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Star-Lord admitted.

"Likewise," Drax nodded, followed by other positive response from the rest of the Guardians.

Steve then looked back at the door that Carol had just chased Spider-Man out of, thinking over all the time he had known both of the two heroes, and in the end, he found that he could not argue with what the six had said. Carol certainly did seem to be taking the news of Peter still being alive for a while now better than he had originally expected her too.

* * *

 ** _AN: So yeah, like I said, not a lot Captain America in this chapter, and I know that's a little weird for a Captain America crossover story, but hey, at its core, I still think of this as a Captain America &Mass Effect Crossover, plus, we got to see Spider-Man's relationship with Kasumi finally settle at what is going to be its high point of a sibling-like relationship. I know some of you had probably thought that Spidey would end up with Kasumi, but I was honestly driving for a sibling relationship between the two for a while._**

 ** _That being said, I really wish I could have thought of a way to end this mission differently, but in all honesty, it still ended with the same sad ending as before. At least this time I gave Kasumi a bit more of a shoulder to cry on. No offense to Shepard, but I really don't think any option we had for him to give the girl was all that comforting for him. At least Spidey tried to help her feel better in a way other than just deleting the files for her._**

 ** _Admittedly, I was actually going to have Peter's conversation with Hock be more than just a mention, in which Hock would reference Fisk and Osborn, but that part of the chapter just felt like it was starting to drag on to be honest. Speaking of stuff that happened during the heist, that little thing I had Spidey and Kasumi do to get out of Hock's private quarters without getting in too much trouble with the guards, that was actually something that had been inspired by this little serious of one-shots that had different Mass Effect characters getting paired up with the hero of another series. Besides, all that time hanging out with Felicia Hardy has to have some small side effects on Spidey, right?_**

 ** _Last thing I want to mention is this: check it out, the Guardians of the Galaxy are here! And yes, I did in fact add Kitty Pryde_ and _Carol Danvers to the roster as well. If you didn't buy what I had Kitty say about her having some cosmic powers now, then just look up the mainstream timeline Kitty's info and you'll see that it's true, along with the fact that she did indeed marry Star-Lord; that girl definitely has a thing for guys named "Peter". Also, Carol's appearance is her Captain Marvel attire with her haircut from before her costume change, because I personally like her hair when it's long and not in that particular haircut she had after she first changed to that costume._**

 ** _Speaking of Carol, how many of you honestly thought that she was just going to leap into Spidey's arms and start kissing him silly when she saw him again or something along those lines? [scoff] Like I'm_ really _going to make things go that smoothly for Spidey where Carol Danvers is concerned. Those two have had one roller coaster of a relationship since day one if what I've read is any indication. Just for the record though, the whole Spidey &Captain Marvel pairing is definitely going to happen in this story, so don't think that Carol will be wanting to kill Spidey forever. It'll just be a while until she finally calms down a little in regards to him._**

 ** _Now let's get on with letting you all find out where our heroes end up next time, and what dangers will await them at said destination. And of course, the only way for you all to do that, is to move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The_** **Normandy _travels to Illium to gather up two final members for the team, which leads to an encounter with another former member of the_ Normandy SR-1 _. While Captain America's encounter with said individual is a bit more cold than some had expected, the team has more important concerns to worry about, and not all of them involve bringing in new teammates. Miranda has very important, personal matter that she needs Steve's help with, and the super soldier is all too happy to help once he hears the details. Find out if you can handle the tip of the adventures that are to be had on Illium, and if Cap and Miranda can make it through this next adventure, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	12. Illuminations on Illium

_**AN: Hey everyone, after a few months of patience, you're wait has now come to an end, because it's time to return to the Mass Effect &MARVEL mixed galaxy in the newest chapter of Avenging Normandy!**_

 ** _[audience applause and cheers]_**

 ** _Yeah, I know, you're all excited to have another update for this chapter, and I am so sorry for making you all wait, but this chapter was really important for me, and I do have other stories to work on, including some new ones that I've recently started up, so please try to bear with me if I don't update this again for a while. It is the holiday season right now, after all, so that might slow things down for all my stories a bit._**

 ** _Grunt: I should smash you for taking so long._**

 ** _Jack: Get in line. I'm getting first crack at him, both for taking so long, and for making me take a backseat to the cheerleader for this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Uh, technically I didn't really make just you take a backseat, and besides, it was a loyalty mission thing. Those kind of have a requirement for each people to have some more focus in those chapters than others._**

 ** _EDI: Do you wish to respond to any reviews before beginning the chapter?_**

 ** _AN: Sure, why not? What've ya got for me first, EDI?_**

 ** _EDI: I believe we should start with a review from "Dracconnis"_**

 ** _AN: Right. Sorry, but I'm afraid that there is no plan for Thor to appear at this time. Maybe in the future or even the sequel to this story, but for now, it's not really in the cards. Next question?_**

 ** _EDI: Another question from "redx1221"._**

 ** _AN: Ah yes, the one regarding magic users. At the moment, I'm trying to avoid such individuals since a majority of things in Mass Effect, if not all of hold a great deal of stock in some variety of science. Adding someone like Doctor Strange or some other magic user would detract from a very important aspect of the Mass Effect universe. So sorry if that's not what you were hoping to hear. Anything else, EDI?_**

 ** _EDI: Perhaps this comment from "Forgotten Honor"?_**

 ** _AN: Right, the one about what may happen after Carol found out about Peter and Aria. Yeah, not gonna lie dude, if she does find out, that ain't gonna end well for anybody involved. I suppose that kinda answers our response to "Bobywhy", doesn't it?_**

 ** _EDI: I believe so._**

 ** _AN: Alright, then I guess we'd best not waste anymore of everyone's time, and plot a course to the chapter. Have fun on our first visit to Illium everybody!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Illuminations on Illium**

It ended up taking a while, but Spider-Man did eventually manage to shake off Captain Marvel's mad pursuit before she could inflict any serious or even permanent harm to him when he ducked into the engine room where he soon received some much appreciate assistance from Tali. The quarian may be incredibly friendly and polite, but when it came to her engine room, she had very little tolerance for any form of destructive behavior, especially when it included energy blasts that could cause the whole ship to explode. Afterwards, the web-head made sure to do anything he could to avoid Carol until he was sure that she had calmed down enough to not try and fry him on sight, and when he could not do so, he always ran directly for Tali and the engine room. Carol had tried to cut him off and prevent this tactic a few times, but Peter always managed to find a way to get there regardless. Granted one of those times had led him to get Jack a little pissed off with him as well, but that was a small price to pay in exchange for staying safe from Carol's wrath, and besides that, Jack had managed to get accustomed enough to the web-head to cool down much more quickly than she had when she first came aboard.

Aside from that one little hiccup, the rest of the crew were quite glad to have the Guardians of the Galaxy aboard for one reason or another. Grunt had found a new sparring partner in Groot, Gamora, and Drax, more so in the case of the latter two, Jacob and Tali found themselves welcoming any technical expertise that Rocket could provide so long as none of it blew up in their faces, literally and metaphorically, and the rest of the team just made everything on the ship much more entertaining and relaxed for everyone. More than that, it seemed that Kitty had somehow managed to convince Kasumi to come out of her room a bit more often and go around the ship without the use of her cloak, and the two girls had been seen hanging out and laughing about a few random topics ever since. While having the Guardians join their ranks certainly made for quite the added bonus, that did not mean that they were the last people that Captain America planned on recruiting, and thankfully, their next stop would allow them to recruit two new members at once if everything went as planned.

When the _Normandy_ came into port on Illium, Steve only needed one look around the city in order to suddenly feel like he was standing in a futuristic New York City, and somehow, he got the feeling that he was not the only one, given how Spider-Man was looking around as everyone from the ship walked down the boarding ramp and into the docking area. They could see skycars rocketing around in every direction, tall buildings that seemed to stretch out to the bare limits of the breathable atmosphere, and even from where they were in the port, they could see multiple different alien races roaming around. Before anyone could go any further in their observations of where they had most recently arrived, the team's attention was drawn to an asari approaching them with a pair of security mechs flanking her on either side. Thinking that they were about to end up with a fight, many members of the team suddenly tensed a little, but they quickly relaxed when the asari spoke to the man leading their team.

"Welcome to Nos Astra, Captain Rogers. We've been instructed to wave all docking and administration fees for your visit. My name is Careena. If you need any information about the area, it would be my pleasure to assist you," the asari greeted with a short yet polite nod.

"Well how about we start with who told you to wave the fees," Cap requested. He was not complaining about not having to make any payments for docking and such, but he did not like knowing that someone else paid for that without knowing who it was that had done so.

"The order came from Liara T'Soni, who paid all fees on your behalf. She also asked that I direct certain members of your crew to speak with her at their earliest convenience. Her office is near the trading floor," Careena replied while using her omni-tool to instruct the mechs to stand down. "One Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah, I believe."

"Liara's here? Why," Garrus asked in surprise, and if one could see her face, everyone was sure that Tali had an expression that matched the turain's shock.

"Liara is one of Nos Astra's most respected information brokers," Corina revealed. "Nos Astra is based upon trade, information is valuable currency and Liara has done quite well."

That was a little tidbit of information that the Illusive Man had not mentioned to Cap when he informed him of what the _Normandy SR-1_ 's old team had gone off to do after the ship's destruction. Yes, he said that Liara was an information broker, but as Steve recalled, the Illusive Man had said she worked for the Shadow Broker, not that she was a major player in the field. Still, that did not matter much at the moment, because Steve wanted to learn as much as he could from the woman in front of him while he had her attention. "Mind telling me a little about Nos Astra? It's my first time here," Steve requested.

"Of course," Careena nodded. "Nos Astra is an exciting city, actually. We see a lot new cultures and goods because of our proximity to the Terminus Systems. At the same time, Illium is still an asari world, so you should be as safe here as you would be on the Citadel. For your own safety, however, I recommend against signing anything."

"Uh, I know that many people can be hesitant about signing things without fully reading them, especially when it comes to the fine print, but why would it be such a problem here," Spider-Man asked, beating Cap to the punch on the question.

Careena only paused for a moment to stare at Spider-Man, most likely because of his appearance, but still answered his question nonetheless. "Illium is a free-trade world, sir, so contract term requirements are more relaxed here than on other planets. It's a small price to pay for keeping our competitive edge in goods from the Terminus Systems."

"So exactly what all gets traded here on Illium," Steve asked.

"Anything you can imagine, Captain. Illium is a wonderful world for those can afford it. In order to remain competitive as a competitive systems port, we've relaxed many of the standards you'd find on other asari worlds. Most drugs are legal, provided they're labeled properly, you can buy almost any weapon or technology, and you can even buy indentured servants."

"Wait, what was that last one," Kitty asked, and her surprise at said piece of news was very easily shared by a good number of people on the team.

"What sort of asari world would disgrace itself by allowing slavery," Drax angrily demanded.

"Sir, please. We try to avoid calling it slavery," Careena quickly said, hoping to placate the Guardian. "All indentured servants on Illium have voluntarily agreed to a term of service. Most choose indentured service as a means to pay off debt or avoid imprisonment. A contract holder is responsible for the wellbeing of her servants, and a servant's duties are agreed upon before the contract is signed."

"Drax, stand down. We're not here to discuss business policies of an entire world, or political views. We're here on a mission," Cap reminded the destroyer, but it was clear that his reminder was for everyone, and that he did not like hearing about a world allowing slavery of any kind anymore than they did. He then turned back to Careena and asked, "Is there any chance you could help us? We're trying to locate a few people."

"I can help you find major entertainment centers or stores, but I'm afraid I can't point you to individual people," Careena answered. "Liara is excellent at that type of work however. I imagine she could help you."

"I'll be sure to ask her then. Thank you," Steve nodded.

"Again, welcome to our city, Captain. Please enjoy your stay," Careena nodded in reply, and she then turned to leave, allowing the team to continue on with their business.

After leaving the port, the group were soon greeted by the sight of the city that they had docked in, and it was only made much more magnificent by the sunset on the horizon. Of course, some people were more excited about other aspects of the city than that. "Oh man, now this is a place that I could really cut loose in," Spider-Man whistled.

"Don't let this place fool you, web-head. It's no safer here than Omega," Garrus warned, gaining the attention of everyone who had not been to Illium, or even heard of it before now. "We were always told that Illium is one of the safest places in the galaxy, until you fell off the grid. Sign the wrong contract, join up with the wrong company, or walk down the wrong alley, and it's as dangerous as anywhere else."

"Noted," Cap nodded. "So we're all going to have to be careful about what we do while we're here. First thing we should do though is speak with Liara and see if she can help us like Careena had said."

"The Illusive Man did say in the dossiers that he sent us that she would be able to help point us in the right direction for a starting point," Miranda pointed out, though Steve could not help but notice how she did not seem to carry her typical tone of voice when she spoke. If anything, her voice sounded a bit more distant, like she was preoccupied with something else.

Cap decided to put it off until later, and turned back to the people that had been singled out by Careena earlier as someone Liara wanted to meet with. "Garrus and Tali, you're with me. The rest of you wait out here for us. Look around at any shops that don't seem too suspicious and get what you think would be helpful for either yourselves, the team, or the ship in our mission, be it in the long run, or the short run."

"Understood," everyone immediately chorused in reply, and they all began to split off into smaller groups.

Just before they all had though, Cap looked to one particular team member and added one last thing, "And make sure you stay close and not go off doing anything like going for a _swing_ around the city."

Spider-Man immediately let out a childish whine in response to that, knowing that statement was directed at him, and just about everyone on the team immediately let out something of a laugh at his expense. The only ones who did not were Miranda, who did not seem to really notice that much, and Carol, who just threw a glare at the web-head in response that quickly caused him to tense up like he was preparing to make a run for it in case she decided to drop any ideas of being on her best behavior and try to kill him again. With that, Cap led the way to the trading center so that he could finally meet the asari member of Commander Shepard's old team, with Garrus and Tali right behind him.

* * *

"Have you faced an asari commando unit before," Liara asked the man she was currently speaking to on her office's comm. in a calm, yet rather intimidating voice. "Few humans have. I'll make it simple: either you pay me, or I flay you alive with my mind."

Liara immediately ended the call without another word, and let out a small, silent sigh of relief that said call was over, despite knowing that she still had a few more to deal with. Sometimes she found herself wishing she had stayed in her original profession as an archeologist, but she always ended up reminding herself that if she had, she probably would not be who she was today not long afterwards. She was actually so preoccupied with both the call and her own thoughts, that she did not even register that someone had come in until a familiar, deep voice suddenly spoke up. "Looks like you've really grown up quite a bit from the nervous, shy Prothean Expert you were when we first met you, T'Soni."

Spinning around to face the speaker, Liara's face immediately lit up almost as brightly as the city just outside her office window, and immediately told her assistant to hold all her calls for while before she ran over to wrap the turian before her in a tight hug. "Garrus! It's so good to see you," Liara happily exclaimed.

"Good to see you too, Liara," Garrus chuckled as he returned the hug.

"Hey, what am I? Chopped geth," a certain quarian playfully asked, bringing Liara's attention to her as well.

"Tali," Liara gasped happily before she wrapped the quarian in question in a hug as well, which Tali happily returned. "It's been far too long since we all last met."

"That it has. I just wish we were only here for a social visit," Garrus nodded. "But before we get any further, there's someone we'd like you to meet." Garrus then waved the third person to step into the room forward so that they could be properly seen, and the minute he did step forward, Liara's happy mood actually soured a bit. "Liara, this is Captain Steve Rogers, the CO of the new _Normandy_. Of course, if you know human history, or if you remember all the old stories some of our old crewmates used to tell, you'd probably know him better as…"

"Captain America, the first Avenger, veteran of Earth's second world war, and leader of many different teams of the Avengers," Liara interrupted, listing some of the super soldier's various known titles and achievements. When she did so, Garrus and Tali both had to stop and stare for a minute at how neutral yet cold Liara's tone had become, because neither of them ever remembered hearing Liara speak in such a way before now.

"A pleasure to meet you Miss T'Soni. I've heard quite a bit about you," Cap said, clearly not put off by her tone of voice like Garrus and Tali had been.

"I'm sure, and it's _Doctor_ T'Soni, Captain," Liara remarked pointedly, making no move to accept the captain's offered handshake. She then turned on her heel before sitting down at her desk and leveling the captain with an even look that clearly hid a great deal of emotions behind it. "So, what exactly is it that you need?"

It was hard to really tell whether or not Captain America was offended by how Liara was acting towards him, but if he was, he did not let that stop him from being civil towards her as he took the seat across from her and got down to business, all the while ignoring the worried looks that Garrus and Tali were exchanging between themselves. "I'm looking for a couple of people that I plan to recruit for my team, and I was told that you could help," Steve explained.

"Well, that would depend on the people in question," Liara said, her tone not changing from what she had been using when addressing him since he arrived.

"One of them is known as Thane Krios and the other is called Samara," Steve revealed.

Liara nodded at the new information, and made a small show of thinking for a brief minute or two before she finally answered, "They're both here on Illium at the moment, as you probably already know. Thane arrived here a few days ago, and contacted a woman named Seryna. My sources tell me that Thane may be targeting a corporate executive: Nassana Dantius."

"I remember her alright," Garrus commented.

"As you should, given that we had dealings with her almost three years ago," Liara nodded to Garrus before turning her attention back to Rogers. "Seryna has an office in the cargo transfer levels. Perhaps she can give you a more exact idea on where Krios is. As for Samara, she arrived a bit more recently and registered with Tracking Officer Dara. You can find her at the transportation hub.

"Why would Samara have to register with a tracking officer? Is she a criminal," Steve asked. He already had Jack to deal with, so he was not so sure that he would be too comfortable working with two known criminals. The fact that they were recruiting Thane, a known assassin was already pushing it a little for him. Sure, one could argue the fact that Gamora was a former assassin, but he would be the first to point out that the keyword there was "former" assassin, so it was a moot point.

"No. In fact, she's quite the opposite. Samara is a Justicar, one of an ancient sect of asari warriors. Dara can tell you more," Liara immediately replied.

"And this is all things you know right off the top of your head," Tali gasped in slight awe.

"I'm a very good information broker," Liara easily replied. "Now then, Captain, if you don't need anything else, I'd like to speak with Garrus and Tali in private."

"I'm sure whatever you have to say to my teammates you can share with me, Doctor T'Soni," Cap easily said.

"With all due respect, _Captain_ , I'm afraid I can't. This is something very personal, and something that I would only share with those I trust," Liara immediately deflected, though the spite in her tone when she referred to Steve did not really carry much respect.

Steve just let it slide, stood up, and told his two teammates he would meet them outside with the rest of the team when they were finished as he left. Once the door had closed behind him, Garrus immediately took the chance to round on Liara a little bit. "You didn't have to act like that towards him, you know."

"And you didn't have to join him, and yet here you both are, working for the man," Liara countered, clearly not quite calmed down from the meeting with Steve.

Garrus was about to retaliate in kind, but he stopped himself, knowing that Liara had a point. Still, it did not excuse her behavior, especially since there did not seem to be any reason for it as far as he could see. Tali on the other hand did see something of a reason though, and did not hesitate to call Liara out on it. "You do know that he's not trying to replace Shepard, right?"

"I'm well aware of that, Tali, and this has nothing to do with Shepard," Liara instantly denied, but Tali could see that she had actually hit pretty close to the mark. After taking a minute to breathe a little, Liara calmly said, "I'm sorry you two. Whatever problems I have with him don't matter right now, and I shouldn't be taking them out on you two of all people."

"You don't need to apologize to us, Liara," Garrus assured her. "To be honest, I'm still dealing with the fact that you seemed to be able to think of what he needed to know so quickly."

"Like I said, I'm a very good information broker," Liara shrugged with a small smile. "The world of intrigue isn't that different from a dig site, except that the dead bodies still smell."

"Well there's another thing that's changed about you: your sense of humor has grown a little. It's a bit more morbid, but it's still there," Garrus joked, getting a laugh out of all three of the old friends. When they finally calmed down a little, Garrus then decided to get down to business. "So just what was it that you needed to speak with us about?"

Liara hesitated for a minute before she finally said, "I need your help. Do either of you two remember the Shadow Broker?"

"Hard to forget," Tali answered, reminding them all of her own experiences in trying to deal with the Shadow Broker. "Why? Are you on the run from him or something?"

"Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Shadow Broker is on the run from me," Liara corrected.

If there was anything that their friend could have said that would surprise them at this point, that was definitely it for Garrus and Tali. Not many people could say that they were hunting the Shadow Broker and expect to still be alive for very long, and given what they had just learned from Liara, there was a good chance she was either doing a good job at staying ahead of his agents, or she had become a lot more reckless since they last saw her. Still, this was something that neither of them could ignore, so they both immediately sat down for Liara's full story, with Garrus making the request for both of them. "We're listening."

* * *

Captain America had never really been one to lie about anything, so it would come as no surprise that he would be completely honest when he said that his meeting with Liara had not been what he had expected, at least not entirely. Yes, he had been warned that the asari would not be very likely to be his biggest fan when they first met, but given what he had heard about her from Garrus, Joker, Tali, and even Doctor Chakwas, he had not expected her to be that cold towards him. He was not offended or anything like that though; he had experience dealing with people who were not exactly the most friendly of individuals at first or ever, such as Robert Kelly, or Thunderbolt Ross before he became a real hero, but it was still a bit off-putting when he encountered someone who acted that coldly towards someone. The thing that really threw him off though, was that Liara's attitude had been rather happy and excited when she first saw Garrus and Tali before she had even noticed him, yet afterwards, she was almost as cold as ice after Garrus had introduced him to her. This likely meant that her problem was more to do with him than anything else, and anything that was associated with the super soldier was just dragged into the line of fire. Whether that was intentional or not, Steve could not say, because right now, he had other things to deal with, starting with assembling the team so he could inform them of their assignments.

At least, that was what he had been intending to do until he saw Miranda sitting at one of the nearby tables looking a little anxious, a very odd departure from her usual demeanor whether it was on the ship or in public. Remembering how she had been acting earlier after they came into port, Steve felt that before he did anything else, he needed to get to the bottom of whatever was troubling his second in command, so he immediately made his way over to her and sat down so that he was sitting directly in front of her. Miranda immediately took notice of his presence the minute he was seated, which was a bit odd for her since she normally would have noticed someone before now, and beat him to the punch on starting a conversation, asking, "Captain, is everything alright? Did Doctor T'Soni give you what you were hoping for?"

"Yes she did. Although, I was a little surprised by her attitude towards me after Garrus introduced us, she was still willing to share the information we needed with us. Right now, she's speaking with Garrus and Tali about something in private," Steve confirmed. Miranda just nodded in response to this, and Steve then asked, "How about with you? Everything all right?"

"Yes, of course," Miranda answered a little too quickly.

Captain America had noticed that, and he was not going to let it slide. "Miranda, I may have been technically dead for the last hundred or so years, and spent seventy years frozen in ice before that, but I'm not stupid. I can tell that something's bothering you, and whatever it is, I want to help you with it. I know that you have a hard time trusting people, given your past, but at the very least, you can trust me. I want to help you, but I can't do that, if you won't let me."

Miranda studied the captain for another minute, almost as if she were gauging the honesty of his statement, and making a mild note of how his eyes were a rather lovely shade of blue as she did. She quickly silenced the latter part of her that was making note of that in favor of the former action, and upon finding no deception in his eyes at all, she let out a small sigh and decided that she may as well come clean. "I was actually hoping to not involve you or anyone on our crew in this, but I guess some things can't be avoided, and this is very important," Miranda admitted. "Do you remember what I told about my father building a dynasty, and how I went to Cerberus for protection after I ran away from him?"

"Yes, and I also remember saying that you don't strike me as someone who needed protection from Cerberus or really anyone, even in regards to staying safe from your father," Steve recalled.

"And you were right. I did go to Cerberus for protection, but not just for myself," Miranda revealed. "I have a sister, a twin, and he's still hunting her. Cerberus has kept her safe until now. She's living a normal life here on Illium, safe and hidden from my father."

"And you think he's tracked her down," Steve finished for her. He was a bit surprised that Miranda had a sister, but then again, it did make sense that such a thing would be why she would go to an organization like Cerberus for protection. Her skills and strengths were not the only reason why Steve had a hard time believing that Miranda would join up with Cerberus for her own safety; he had a feeling all along that she had something of a reason like this for joining them.

"Precisely, Cap," Miranda nodded. "All of my sources indicate that he knows she's here. I've tried to keep her hidden without impacting her life, but I'm out of options. He's too close, so I need to relocate my sister's family before it's too late."

"Mind telling me a little bit about your sister," Steve requested.

Miranda was not really expecting him to ask about that, but she answered him, all the same. "She's my genetic twin. We're identical, but she deserves a normal life, and she's going to get it, no matter what. Her family's also completely uninvolved with all of this, completely normal, so when I told Cerberus, they immediately started working on coming up with a positive reason to move the family."

"From the sound of things, it seems like you've got everything well in hand, and yet I get the feeling that isn't quite enough for you," Steve observed.

"And everyone said that Iron Man was the smart one on the Avengers," Miranda lightly joked. "My father's extremely persistent, so I'd like to tag along while Cerberus is moving the family to make sure none of his agents get too close. I have a contact waiting for us in the nearby lounge, and they'll be preparing to move very soon."

Steve paused for a moment to think about this. He was already planning on splitting the team up since he knew that they needed to meet with both Thane and Samara quickly if they were going to recruit them both, but with this new information, he would need to divide the team up even more. This was not something he was too fond of, but then again, he could see just how important this was to Miranda, not just by the urgency in her voice, but also by the pleading look in her eyes that many people would likely have missed if they had not gotten to know her as well as he liked to think that he had. It was a look he had seen before in the eyes of a few other people in similar positions to hers, one that was honestly and deeply concerned about their sibling, and Steve felt he could not just ignore it. That alone made it easy for him to make a decision on what to do here.

It was actually right at the very moment that he had made his decision that he finally saw Tali and Garrus come back from their meeting with Liara, and he immediately signaled the rest of the team to assemble at his location. A few minutes later, the whole crew was gathered together, and Cap immediately went to work in assigning everyone their tasks. "Alright people, we may not have a lot time on our hands at the moment if we want to bring in our next recruits, so we're going to have to split up into separate teams," Steve started.

"Cap, before you get too far in, I think you should know that I won't be able to help out," Garrus cut in. "Remember when I mentioned I had a contact here on Illium that could get us a Thanix Cannon? Well, they got back to me just before we came into orbit and told me that it's ready to be installed on the _Normandy_. I want to be there for when it's delivered to make sure that everything is done right."

"A Thanix Cannon, huh? This I've gotta see," Rocket grinned excitedly.

"I am Groot," the ever loyal tree-like partner to Rocket muttered.

"No I am not saying that 'cause I plan on testing it on the first krutakin' thing I see! I just want to help Garrus here with makin' sure it's installed right," Rocket immediately protested.

"Sure Rocket. We believe ya," Spider-Man snarked with a hidden grin that was easily matched by just about everyone else in the group.

While this was a bit of a drawback, it was not too much of one, and Steve had already made adjustments to his plans in order to compensate for it. "Fine, but have Gabby, Ken, and EDI do whatever they can to help with its installation. I'd rather not have us all come back to find half the ship blown up because you or Rocket didn't properly install something." After getting a nod from the two, Cap returned his attention to the rest of the team so he could continue, only to be interrupted once again.

"Uh Captain, I'm actually going to need to be excused from this as well," Tali hesitantly revealed. "Liara needs my help with something really important and well…"

"Say no more, Tali. After all, we all understand how important something is when it concerns old friends," Spider-Man replied.

"Well most of us do, at least," Carol muttered with a pointed glare in the web-head's direction. Spidey immediately flinched a little, having heard that, but gave no other reaction otherwise.

While the two were a bit out of line, they were not wrong in that regard, which was why Captain America gave Tali a quick nod to say that it was okay for her to do what she needed to. After taking a minute to see if anyone else needed to do something that would prevent them from helping out with any of the tasks involved, Steve continued on with his original briefing. "All right, here are your assignments: Gamora, Star-Lord, Kasumi, and Mordin, I'll want you to head down to the cargo transfer levels and speak with a woman named Seryna. She'll have information on Thane Krios." After the individuals he had indicated nodded in understanding, Cap turned his attention to the others. "Spider-Man, Groot, Drax, Grunt, Jack, Jacob, and Shadowcat…"

"Star-Lady," Kitty corrected.

"Sorry," Cap quickly apologized. He was still getting used to calling her that. "Anyways, all of you will need to speak with Tracking Officer Dara in order to obtain information on where to locate Samara."

"Wait, so what're you, Lawson, and Carol going to be doing," Quill questioned.

"Captain Marvel, Miranda, and I have a separate, urgent mission that needs our immediate attention. As such, Gamora and Spider-Man will be acting as team leaders for your individual groups," Steve easily replied.

"Wait a minute. Why's Bug-Freak going to be our team captain and not the little Shi'ar ambassador," Jack asked.

"While Kitty may be an ambassador between Earth and the Shi'ar, she doesn't have as much experience as a team leader as Spider-Man does, and more to the point, Spider-Man has more knowledge in regards to the capabilities of everyone on this team. That and his ability to adapt to any sudden changes in an instant make him a more ideal choice to be leading your group," Captain America explained. "Any other questions?" No one said anything in response. "Alright, then you have your assignments. Move out!"

With that, everyone split off into their assigned groups, until only Miranda, Carol, and Steve were left. After everyone was gone, Miranda looked to her current commanding officer and said, "Thank you, Rogers. I appreciate this, but I was actually hoping to involve as few people as possible in this matter."

"I had a feeling that would be the case, which is why I only added Carol to our little group. Her skills will make her a perfect asset for what you need to do here," Steve explained.

"Besides, can you really tell us that having Captain Marvel around wouldn't be a big help for whatever we're going to be doing," Carol asked Miranda with a small smirk.

Miranda could not deny that fact, and so she simply nodded in thanks to both captains before she moved to lead the little trio to the lounge she had mentioned earlier and said, "Well, we'd best not waste anymore time, so let's get going. I'd rather not keep Lanteia waiting any longer."

The genetically perfect woman received no arguments from either Age of Marvels hero, and the three were soon on their way. Of course, Carol still had one question to ask. "So what exactly are we doing?"

"I'll explain on the way," Steve reassured the blonde.

* * *

Miranda had expected Carol to turn tail and walk away after she had heard Cap's explanation, so she ended up being rather surprised when the Half-Kree woman actually decided to stick around and help. After hearing this, Miranda ended up spending the rest of their walk trying to think of a reason as to why the mighty Captain Marvel would agree to do so, but ended up with no positive answers that really made sense to her. She ended up putting it aside though when they finally found Lanteia, and immediately went right down to business, hoping that everything was going as planned so far.

Unfortunately, Lanteia did not say anything of the sort. "Miss Lawson, I'm glad you made it. We've had a complication."

"What happened? Is Oriana all right," Miranda immediately asked, a small amount of worry and panic starting to rise inside of her.

"She's fine," Lanteia immediately reassured her, much to Miranda's relief. "But…you listed a man named Niket as your trusted source? He contacted me, warning that your father has sent Eclipse mercenaries to make a sweep. He suggested that the mercs might be watching for you personally, and he's offered to escort Oriana's family to the terminal instead."

"Wait a minute. I don't recall you mentioning anything about this Niket person," Steve interrupted with a small look in Miranda's direction. When Carol saw this, she started gaining a mischievous little smile, but no one seemed to notice.

"He's a friend. He and I go back a long way," Miranda quickly explained. A little too quickly if you were to ask Carol.

"Do you want to bring in any of your other alien contacts Miss Lawson," Lanteia asked.

"No. You and Niket are the only two I trust on this," Miranda refused.

"So what else can you tell us about the mercenaries," Carol asked, stepping into the conversation.

Lanteia had to pause a little in shock at seeing that Captain Marvel herself was standing before her, but managed to regain her composure and answer all the same. "I've confirmed that they're Eclipse, and that they're working for an organization that Miss Lawson warned us about. I could try to alert the authorities, but so far, they've done nothing illegal."

"You made the right decision. We'll handle this ourselves," Miranda reassured the asari.

"So what do you want to do, Miranda," Cap asked, giving Miranda the go ahead to form the plan that they would use.

Miranda did not need much time to think about it before she settled on a decision. "Lanteia, we'll follow Niket's suggestion. Captain America, Captain Marvel, and I will take the car and draw their attention. Have Niket escort the family to the shuttle, and give him full access to the family's itinerary, just to be safe."

"Understood Miss Lawson," Lanteia nodded, and she immediately brought up her omni-tool so she could do as asked.

"So basically the plan's for us to get shot down while your sister gets to safety? Seems like a pretty risky move, if you ask me," Carol noted.

"Eclipse will be under orders to take my sister alive. They won't risk anything that could kill us," Miranda insisted.

"Still, I don't think Eclipse will send everyone in their ranks just to stop us. Do you think we should give Niket any backup," Steve asked.

"Niket can take care of himself. Besides, any armed backup just draws attention to him, and that's without sending in someone like you or Captain Marvel," Miranda reassured Steve.

It seemed that Miranda had thought of everything and decided on the best course of action once again, and since there did not really seem to be anything else that needed to be said at this point, all Steve could do was nod in acceptance and say, "If that's the case, then let's get moving. Lead the way Miranda."

After exchanging a final nod with Lanteia, Miranda immediately turned and led the two captains out of the lounge to the skycar that they would be taking to draw Eclipse's attention to them. "Thank you, Steve. I appreciate this," Miranda whispered softly. "I hadn't planned on Eclipse, but they never planned on you."

"Well, even when they think they have, no one ever really seem to have really planned on anyone like me," Steve modestly smiled in reply.

"Well, I wouldn't be too sure about whether or not they had planned on me. I've had a few run-ins with Eclipse in the past to get them pretty pissed off," Carol informed the two, startling them both a little. "Yeah, I'm still here. Sorry to interrupt your little moment with Miranda there, Army."

"We were not having a moment, Air Force," Captain America retorted in a monotone. "And would that be history as Captain Marvel, or as a Guardian of the Galaxy?"

"…Yes," Carol replied after a minute, earning her a small eye-roll from both of the other two. "So, do you guys want me in the car with you, or flying alongside of it?"

"In the car. Let's try to keep our cards close to the chest for now," Steve ordered.

"You got it," Carol nodded, and she immediately picked up her pace a little.

Steve then looked back to Miranda to see she was giving him a small look that was a mix of confusion and pointed questioning. "What," Steve asked.

"What was with that back there, Army," Miranda asked with a slight edge to her tone.

Steve adopted a nostalgic smile at that before he explained, "Carol and I served in two different branches of the military. She was air force, and I was army, so we have a bit of a friendly rivalry of sorts."

"I see," Miranda nodded before picking up her pace as well, and a small, comfortable silence soon fell over the group as they boarded the skycar.

* * *

Once the three had boarded their skycar and taken to the air, they found themselves met with very little action, not that anyone was complaining, because right now, no news was good news. The only thing that made it somewhat bearable was how Carol continuously complained like a child about how she had not been allowed to drive, a fact that became amusing to both Miranda and Steve after a while, until Miranda finally spotted something that should not have been flying around in the area, and she did not like it at all. "Damn it. Eclipse mercenary gunships," Miranda cursed. "They'll be dropping troops in the cargo areas."

"Well, guess we'll find out whether or not they'll want to take us alive for sure now," Carol quipped as her helmeted mask slid into place over her head.

Steve and Miranda both nodded in agreement with the blonde, and then brought their attention forward again as Miranda moved to steer them into a covered position behind the mercenaries. Just as they were a few feet above the ground, the mercenaries opened fire on them, and Miranda was forced to pull some fancy flying in order to make sure that the skycar did not get damaged in any important areas. When the shower of bullets finally came to a stop, the damage had already been done, and Miranda was forced to bring the car in for a crash landing. Everyone in the vehicle was glad that they were still in one piece after such a landing, but they did not have time to lick their wounds even if they did have any, and they quickly scrambled out of the car so that they could find cover for the next attack. After they had found cover though, it suddenly occurred to them all that Eclipse was no longer firing at them, and when they heard engines roaring, they immediately looked up to see that the gunship was taking off. Looking out from their current cover, they were also quick to see the man who was apparently leading the mercenary team waving his men down as he stepped forward looking a bit smug.

Seeing all of this immediately clued Miranda in on what was going on, and she was soon on her feet and approaching the mercenaries with a casual stride that had a slight edge to it, communicating that she was not to be taken lightly. "Since you're not firing yet I trust you know who I am," Miranda remarked as Steve and Carol fell in step beside her.

"Yeah, they said you'd be in the car," the merc leader sneered. "You're the bitch that kidnapped our boss' little girl."

"Kidnapped? This doesn't involve you. I suggest you take your men and go," Miranda warned, clearly feeling a little insulted by the accusation.

Strangely, the merc did not seem phased in the slightest by the warning. "Think you've got it all lined up, huh," the merc mocked. "Captain Enyala's already moving in on the kid. She knows about Niket, and he won't be helping you."

That raised a few red flags for everyone on the team, and none of them liked the sound of what it implied. "Care to explain why you think Niket won't be helping us," Captain America asked, having already moved his shield onto his arm in preparation for battle.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Nobody's going to get killed unless you do something stupid," the merc waved off. "You walk away now, the girl goes back to her father, and everybody's happy."

"Everybody but my sister, and me," Miranda argued.

"Not to mention all of you guys that were probably hoping to get lucky and actually give me a small scratch the next time they saw me," Carol added with a smirk.

The blonde's remark drew the mercenaries' attention right towards her, and they were all instantly scowling at the sight of her. "Captain Marvel," the merc leader growled. "Captain Enyala had actually been hoping to run into you again. You still owe her for the last time you blew up half of the ships in our base on Sszardil."

"Please. You and I both know that it was all of the ships in that base," Carol scoffed, boastingly. "You guys are barely that much of a challenge most of the time, at least in comparison to my old pal Galen-Kor, but then again, he knew how to put up something of a decent fight and how to shoot straight."

While it was a bit entertaining to see Carol rile up the mercenaries they were facing, there was still something about what had just been said that had her fellow captain confused. "Miranda, I thought you said that Oriana was your twin sister, so why is this man talking as though she's much younger?"

"That what she told you? Looks like your new friend is even more stupid than your usual ones, Captain Marvel," the merc leader chuckled.

"First off, he's not a new friend, he's an old one that's just come back from the dead, and second, I seem to recall how a number of my usual teammates were able to humiliate you guys, and kick all of your asses five ways to Spartax, the Shi'ar homeworld, and back plenty of times before now," Carol easily retorted.

"Well then I guess your IQ has gone down a few notches recently," the merc easily retorted. "See, this crazy bitch kidnapped our boss' baby daughter. He's been looking for her for more than a decade."

That immediately earned Miranda a pair of looks from both Captains America and Marvel that demanded some answers, but right now, she did not really have the patience to give said answers, and even if she did, it was not really the best time to give them, so she kept her explanation short. "Look, its complicated Rogers, Danvers. We share the same DNA, just not the same birth date."

"You took a baby from the richest guy in the galaxy, Lady," the merc cut in. "I don't know what your damage is, but you're not getting away with it."

"I'm afraid that the only one not getting away with anything is you," Captain America stated. "If you want Miranda's sister, you'll have to get through us first, and it will end badly for you if you try."

The merc did not seem the least bit intimidated by Cap's threat, but instead, found it a little humorous as he smugly crossed his arms and revealed, "Captain Enyala ordered us to give you one chance to walk away, and you should consider yourselves lucky that she didn't know Captain Marvel would be here, because she wouldn't have given that order otherwise. This whole time we've been talking, my men have been lining up shots. When I say the word, we unleash hell on your squad, so I suggest you walk away nicely."

What the merc did not know, was that Miranda and the two captains had all noticed a large crate hanging overhead behind the merc leader, and they all had the same idea on a plan of retaliation against the mercs once they had. It was also very unfortunate for the merc leader that he had placed himself right in the perfect position to be taken out of the fight before it even started, a fact that he learned soon enough when Captain America suddenly socked him in the gut before knocking him out cold with his shield. Steve's attack was instantly followed up by Miranda firing her SMG at the nearest mercs, taking each of them out very quickly, while Captain Marvel simply raised a hand towards the crate above the mercs further back, and fired an energy blast at it, releasing the crate from the crane that was holding it. When the crate hit the ground, it instantly went up in an explosion, taking over half of the remaining mercs with it, until all that was left was a few salarians, and some humans.

The remaining members of Eclipse were all instantly panicking at the sudden loss of both their leader and so many members, and that made it all the easier for the three to take them out one way or the other. Of course, Steve and Miranda really did not have to do that much, as Captain Marvel was more than happy to deal with the vast majority of the remaining scraps with a few simple energy blasts that almost made it seem like she was barely even trying. Then again, considering that this was Carol, Steve was pretty sure that she really was not trying that hard. It did not seem to be fast enough for Miranda though, because she was clearly much more anxious now than she had been before after hearing what the mercenary had said about her friend, but now was not the time to really be thinking on such things too much, so the two Age of Marvels captains put aside their concerns until they were in a position to catch a breath.

After dealing with the last of the stragglers standing in their way, the three finally came to an elevator that would take them up to the next level, and closer to where the Eclipse leader was. Just when the elevator arrived, the sound of someone talking over a radio caught their ears, and Miranda immediately strode over to the source. "Hang on. I've got one of their radios," Miranda stated once she had retrieved the device in question. "I'll patch us in, and see if I can get an idea of what we're up against."

"Great, and while we're waiting, you can start doing a little explaining," Carol said, making it clear that she was not asking both through her tone and her posture.

When Miranda saw that Steve was taking a similar posture to Carol's, she let out a sigh of defeat and revealed the information she had withheld before. "I know, I owe you both an explanation, so here it is," Miranda said. "Oriana is my twin, genetically, but my father…grew her when I was a teenager. She was meant to replace me, and I couldn't let my father do to her what he did to me, so I rescued her."

"You should've told us we were saving a kid," Steve reprimanded.

"She's not a child, Rogers. She'll be nineteen this year, she's practically a young woman now, and…well, it didn't seem relevant at the time, I suppose," Miranda immediately defended. "There are people who would use her against me, so I'm very protective when it comes to Oriana. I'm sorry I didn't trust you sooner. You deserved to know."

"Still, wanting to go your own way is one thing, but this is completely different. The fact is that you stole a child from her father," Carol argued.

"If you knew my father, you'd understand," Miranda insisted. "I wasn't the first one he made, I was only the first one he kept. I was brought up with no friends, pushed to meet impossible demands…I wasn't a daughter to him, I was…I don't know what I was. Oriana has had a normal life. I made the right decision."

Hearing all of this immediately caused Carol to soften her stern expression. She knew very well what it was like to have a strict and demanding father, since her own father had never really approved of her so much as going off to college once she had finished high school, so she could sympathize a little with Miranda. Since he had heard all about Miranda's father before, Steve was able to better understand Miranda's reasoning a little better, and the sad look on her face as she told them that, along with the sorrowful tone in her voice when she was speaking only made the ill feelings that Steve had towards Miranda's father grow even stronger than they already had been before. Seeing that Miranda was still a little upset about having to take that particular trip down memory lane, Steve immediately walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder as he reassured her, "Don't worry, Miranda. We'll get Oriana out of here safely, and your father won't get away with what he's done. I promise."

Miranda gave a genuine smile of thanks to Steve for that, and then brought her head back into the game so that they could focus on the task at hand. "If Eclipse knows where Oriana is, they'll be moving in on her soon, so we should hurry, but I'm a bit worried about what the merc said. If they got to Niket somehow, this is going to be harder than I planned," Miranda admitted. "According to the specs I've reviewed, we'll need to cut through the cargo processing yard to get to Oriana."

"Well here's hoping your _friend_ can be trusted," Steve remarked, not realizing he had unintentionally added a little bit of an edge to his voice when he mentioned Niket.

"Absolutely," Miranda reassured him. "Niket is one of my oldest friends. I guess you could say he was my only real friend. He's the only person I didn't cut ties with after I left my father."

"And there's no chance that your father could be using Niket to get to you," Steve asked.

"I'm sure he's tried, but Niket's one of the few people who understands what my father is really like. I trusted him with my life when I ran from my father, Cap. He won't betray me now."

"I see," Steve shortly remarked before he tapped the elevator controls to take them up.

"I don't believe my eyes or ears. Is the mighty Captain America actually jealous," Carol asked in mock awe.

"No. Just your eyes and ears playing tricks on you, Carol," Steve insisted.

"Uh-huh, and Spider-Man's stupid enough to call me fat even as a mocking insult," Carol retorted in show of her disbelief.

Steve said nothing in response to that, but it was mainly because the elevator had reached its destination. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was attempting to hide the blush that was likely forming on his face from either of the two women he was presently in the company of at all. Almost instantly after getting off the elevator, the three were met with more Eclipse mercenaries, and they immediately set to work blasting their way through in any way that they could. After clearing the immediate vicinity, they thought that they might be able to catch a break, until Miranda spotted more mercenaries on the far side of the nearby conveyor line, likely hoping to use it as a better cover, and with good reason.

"Time your shots carefully. Those crates on the conveyor line are filled with explosive material," Miranda warned the two.

"Good to know," Carol nodded, and she was soon taking to the air once again, positioning herself right about the thugs.

"Captain Marvel, wait! This whole room is filled with similar crates," Miranda tried to shout, but it was already too late, as Carol had already let loose a large energy ball from her hands that immediately impacted the ground right in the center of the gathered mercs.

The minute that Captain Marvel's energy blast hit the ground, it released an explosion of energy that soon engulfed a few nearby explosive containers in its destructive radius, and Miranda was quickly attempting to raise a biotic shield around herself and Captain America in order to protect them from the resulting blast. Steve's first instinct had, naturally been to raise his shield to try and defend himself since he was too far from any sufficient cover, so when he was suddenly surrounded in a dome of blue energy thanks to Miranda, he was unable to keep a sigh of relief out of his voice. "I guess this makes us even from Haestrom, doesn't it Miranda," Steve commented with a smile.

Miranda only smirked in response to Cap's little quip, and then dropped the shield to send out a biotic slam to incapacitate some of the remaining mercs while Cap just simply gave his shield a quick throw to deal with the last three. "Okay, that was my bad," Carol admitted as she floated back over to the two with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Well on the bright side, your mishap did at least clear the room of a majority of Eclipse's forces," Miranda pointed out. She quickly fell silent though when they heard someone suddenly speaking over the Eclipse comm. frequency that she had tapped into earlier.

 _"This is Enyala. Keep the bitch back. Niket is nearing the transport terminal."_ There was a short pause that was likely only being filled by some mercs that they could not hear before Enyala spoke again. _"I don't care how many men you lose, just stall them, damn it."_

"Well, nice to hear that she hasn't changed a bit," Carol muttered.

"Let's get moving. It looks like we have less time to get there than ever now," Captain America said, pulling out his pistol as he led the charge, with Carol taking to the sky above him, and Miranda falling in step beside him as she reloaded her SMG.

A moment later, more Eclipse mercenaries had started coming out of the woodworks, this time with some mechs backing them up, but Captain America and Miranda were able to mow them down easily enough, while Carol took care of anyone they might have missed or anyone who was hoping to catch them off-guard with a little aerial assault of her own. It was an effective strategy for the moment, if a bit mundane given how much easier things seemed to turn for them, but at the moment, they were more concerned about getting to Miranda's sister before Eclipse did. That concern increased exponentially when they next heard Enyala speaking over the radio. _"Divert everyone except my guard from Niket. I'll handle him and the kid personally."_

"Damn it. I'm not letting them get Oriana," Miranda snarled.

"None of us are," Cap reassured Miranda, and he immediately tossed his shield forward. Miranda only watched for a minute as the vibranium disk rebounded off a couple of walls before it knocked out at least four Eclipse mercs that had been waiting for them up ahead all at once. Since the mercs had not seen his attack coming, Steve had no problem charging in with guns blazing, and it allowed him to gun down a number of mercs without any problem before he finally summoned his shield back to him in order to protect himself from the rain of bullets that came after the mercs recovered from their surprise.

Steve did not have to face Eclipse on his own for very long, because Carol came charging in shortly after him, with energy infused fists swinging and blasting in various directions. Naturally, Carol did not worry about getting hurt by enemy fire since she could not be hurt by bullets , but she did not hold back as much as she normally did as she retaliated against the mercs. Miranda on the other hand, was holding nothing back at all as she blazed a trail through the mercs and any mechs that they had brought along with them, and soon enough, there was nothing left of the Eclipse forces that had previously been standing in their way. At least, that was what they thought until their elevator arrived and dropped off three more mercs, but they were easily dealt with after they had each been hit by a single attack from one of the _Normandy_ heroes.

Seeing that they were all clear now, Miranda looked to Steve and asked, "How did you know they were going to be there?"

"Call it a hunch, based off of the fact that we had a very narrow exit point into this area that they could easily take advantage of if they had wanted to jump us before the elevator," Steve shrugged modestly.

Carol was about to comment on how it looked more like Steve was trying to show off for Miranda when Enyala's voice came over their comms again, and this time, she did not say something that they wanted to hear, especially in Miranda's case. _"Niket has reached the terminal. He'll switch the family over to our transport."_

"What? Why would she say…Niket couldn't…" Miranda stuttered for a minute.

"I'd hate to say it, Miranda, but it's starting to sound like your faith in Niket is a little misplaced," Carol commented as she led the way into the elevator.

"No, it couldn't be," Miranda immediately refuted as she and Steve joined Carol in the elevator, with the super soldier starting it up, along with the music that played over the speakers. "Maybe the captain knows we're listening in, and she's feeding misinformation about Niket making a switch…or maybe it means something else. Niket wouldn't do that." When she glanced over at the hologram that was displaying the elevator's progress to their next destination, she immediately brought up her omni-tool as she slammed her fist into the controls out of frustration. "Damn it! Why won't this thing go any faster?!"

Miranda's little outburst only served to silence the elevator music while making Steve and Carol grow more concerned about her. Neither of them said anything right away though, thinking that it was best to let her cool down a little bit first. "You seem awfully sure that Niket wouldn't have turned on you," Steve commented after another minute.

"Of course I am. He could've turned on me when I ran away, but he didn't, and I'm sure my father tried to buy him off. If he didn't do it then, why would he do it now," Miranda posed in response.

"Well did you tell him about Oriana before now," Carol offered.

"No, he just found about that recently, same as the two of you. It was too personal to involve someone else," Miranda replied. She then paused for a moment and muttered, "I never really thought about it, but maybe…" She only let the idea linger for a minute before she immediately dismissed it. "No, he'd have to understand why I did it. He knows what I went through."

"Somehow, I'm not sure that's the case here," Steve said as he glared at the display showing their progress up to the next floor. "Either way, we'll only know for sure after we've found Niket."

"And then I'll have a word with this Captain Enyala," Miranda promised with a snarl. "She's certainly doing a fine job of showing why she doesn't deserve to be referred to with such a title."

"You won't hear me arguing," Carol agreed. She was actually looking forward to facing Enyala almost as much as Miranda was, but somehow, she had a feeling that it would be smart to let Miranda take care of the Eclipse captain.

* * *

Niket was typically a reasonable and patient man, but right at the moment, he was probably anything but the latter of those things, and the former was very close to going as well. He knew it had been a bad idea to involve a group like Eclipse in this whole thing, but then again, it was not his call to hire them. All he had to do was get Oriana out of there and to where she belonged, but right now, that was not possible. The asari that was handling the flight bookings was simply refusing to let him rebook the transport for the family ever since an alarm went up about something happening down in the cargo terminal. He did not know exactly what was going on, but he knew that Eclipse was responsible for it, at least partially, and from what he overheard on their radios and from what Enyala was saying, there was a chance that someone he really did not want to see right now was down there as well. If he did not get the booking changed, there was no telling what could happen, so Niket continued to persist in his attempts to reason with the attendant.

"Listen to me; I've got authorization to change their booking," Niket tried once again.

"I'm sorry sir, we're under security lockdown," the asari repeated once again, for the fifth time. "Until the situation in the cargo terminal is resolved, no passengers can be rebooked."

"This isn't worth my time, Niket. I get paid regardless of how the girl gets there," Enyala reminded the poor man.

"No! I was told that I could handle this my way," Niket insisted. "We're not traumatizing the family anymore than we already…"

The sound of the elevator arriving cut Niket short in his rant, and everyone was immediately turning to see who was coming up. When they saw who was stepping out, they were all left a little breathless at the sight. The first two that they all noticed were probably the most noticeable of the trio, due to the brightly colored suits that they were wearing. One of the first two was a blonde woman in a red and blue suit with a gold star on her chest, and the suit seemed to fit on her body like it was a second skin. The second person, and the only man in the trio, wore a red, white, and blue suit of armor with the helmet allowing them to only see his eyes and the lower half of his face, while a red and white shield with a silver star shining in the blue center was strapped to his arm, and they could also see a pistol and an assault rifle strapped onto his weapons rack. The third and final person was probably the most normal looking one of the bunch, and yet she still managed to turn quite a few heads just by simply walking at the slow, dangerous pace she was currently holding. This was due in part to the tight, white and black cat-suit she wore which almost seemed like she had been poured into it, along with her flawless face with long, raven hair that reached her shoulders.

When Enyala saw the blonde woman, her neutral expression had quickly turned into a deep scowl, and she was already on her feet and preparing to draw her weapon before the three had stepped within range of them, while the man with the shield had left everyone gob smacked, because he was honest, living proof that the rumors about Earth's legendary Captain America being back from the dead were indeed true. However, Niket's eyes were the most focused on the raven haired woman, and the minute he finally realized who she was, his eyes widened in both awe and horror at the fact he had been caught.

"Miri," Niket gasped. This was probably the first time he had seen her in person in years, since the last time that had been the case, she was still a lovely young teenager, and now, here she was standing before him as an amazingly beautiful woman. Of course, he also saw the look in her eyes when they found his, and all he saw there was hurt and betrayal.

"Well the bitch the boss told us about and Captain Marvel, all right here in front of us. Add in the fact that Captain America is here too and…well, this should be _really_ fun," Enyala smirked before she finally leveled her gun at the three, shocking the attendant that Niket had just been speaking to.

"Just try it, Enyala," Captain Marvel dared as her fists clenched with energy blazing around them, while Captain America readied his shield for action, and Miranda snapped out her SMG. Carol then glanced over at the attendant and said, "You should get out of here now, kid. This area's just become a very dangerous battleground."

The attendant did not argue, and immediately bolted for the door. Enyala would have tried to shoot the girl, but she refrained from doing so, seeing as Captain Marvel would likely end up saving her. Why waste the ammo, right? After a few tense minutes, Miranda finally broke the silence, and her voice was gushing with as much hurt as her eyes had been. "Niket, you sold me out. Why? You were my friend. You helped me get away from my father."

"Yes, because you wanted to leave," Niket tried to explain. "That was your choice, but if I'd known that you'd stolen a baby…"

"I didn't steal her; I rescued her!"

"From a life of wealth and happiness? You weren't saving her! You were getting back at your father," Niket then disputed, going from defensive to accusatory.

"From what I've heard of the man, it sounds like Miranda is a bit more accurate in her description of what she had done," Captain America interrupted. "What did Miranda's father do to turn you? Offer you money? A better life where you were rich and famous? Let me know when I'm close."

"Yes, he offered me a great deal of money, but it wasn't just that," Niket admitted. "They told me that you'd kidnapped your baby sister all those years ago, and they said I could help get her back peacefully; no trauma to the family. I told them that you'd never do that; they can go to hell, but then you finally told me what you'd done. I called them back that night."

"Why didn't you call me, Niket? We've been through a lot. You could've at least let me explain," Miranda demanded.

"I deserved to know that you'd stolen your sister, Miri, and I deserved to know you were with Cerberus, but I had to hear it from your father first," Niket easily argued.

"Damn it, Niket! You were the only one I trusted from that life," Miranda snapped, and even if he was not standing right next to her, Steve would still be able to tell from her voice that Miranda was on the verge of tears.

"He knew you felt that way, and that's why he bought me," Niket pointed out. "And don't try to get holy with me, Miri. You've been taking his money for years."

"Hey, asshole, in case you haven't noticed, it doesn't matter if you agree with Miranda, because Oriana has been with her family for years," Carol cut in.

"Her father can still give her a better life," Niket tried to insist, but Carol was not going to hear it.

"Right, a man who wants to take a girl away from the only family she's ever known against her will can give said girl a better life. Are you really going to tell me that you'd let that happen because you got desperate for some credits," Carol argued. She then turned to Niket's current companion and added, "And don't even get me started on the help he's hired. Really, I thought that Eclipse couldn't sink so low as to kidnap a kid, but you've clearly proved me wrong."

"Shut it, bitch. I'm not stealing her; I'm rescuing her. I thought you Guardians were all about that type of thing, especially in your case Miss Great-Power-Great-Responsibility," Enyala snapped, earning Carol a quirked eyebrow of intrigue from Steve. "Come on, Niket; let's finish these bitches and their little soldier boy off and get out of here."

"Take your best shot," Miranda challenged, clearly beyond the point of caring by now.

"I was just waiting for you to finish getting dressed, or does Cerberus really let you hoar around in that outfit?"

"I know this isn't the best time, but you have no idea how good it still feels for someone else to get that kind of insult thrown at them instead of me," Carol whispered to Steve.

The super soldier paid her no mind though, because there was still something else to address, and he needed to bring their attention to it now. "Enough, both of you," Steve ordered his teammates before he leveled the most intense glare he had ever given anyone at Niket. "If you're working for Miranda's father, that means he knows about Oriana, right?"

Niket was a bit frozen in fear at having Captain America look at him like that, but he managed to shake it off and give him an answer. "No. Miranda's father doesn't have any information about Oriana." Seeing the slightly surprised look in Miranda's eyes, Niket immediately went into another explanation. "I knew you had spy programs in your father's system, Miri, so I kept it private. I'm the only one who knows."

While she was glad to hear about this, Miranda knew that it also meant one other thing, and she could not really see any other options for her to take, so she immediately leveled her gun on the man she had once called her only friend from her old life, and said "Which means that you're the only loose end. This isn't how I wanted it to end, Niket."

Before she could even start to squeeze the trigger, Miranda felt someone grab her arm and then force her gun away from Niket, and she immediately turned to see Steve was the one preventing her from doing what she thought needed to be done. "Miranda, don't! You don't have to do this," Steve warned.

"Yes I do, Rogers. If I don't end it here, my father will keep trying to find Oriana," Miranda argued.

"All the more reason to keep Niket alive," Steve countered. "He can talk to your father and throw him off the trail or something."

Niket instantly latched on to what Cap was saying and fervently nodded, "I'll tell him that you hid her, and I don't know where she is."

Seeing the man agree with the proposed plan did make things a little better for her, but it still did nothing to erase the hurt his betrayal had inflicted on her. "I _never_ want to see you again, Niket," Miranda snarled.

Niket knew that was probably better than what he deserved from Miranda, but it still hurt to hear her say that. Of course, it did not quite hurt as much as the gunshot that tore through his body a second later, courtesy of Enyala. "Done," the asari snarled. "Now if you don't mind, I have a shipment to deliver."

Niket's betrayal may have hurt, but seeing him killed like that caused something to finally snap inside of Miranda, and as a result, she immediately trapped Enyala in a biotic field before lifting her into the air and shouting, "You'll die for that bitch!"

An instant later, Enyala was flying across the room as a result of Miranda's biotic throw. It did not kill Enyala, but it did not put her in a good mood either, and as a result, Enyala was leading her personal guard into battle against Miranda, Captain America, and Captain Marvel. Carol was about to jump in and provide Miranda with some assistance, but Steve signaled for her to hold off on that, earning him a confused look from his fellow captain. "That's Miranda's fight," Steve simply said, and he then turned his attention, and his pistol towards the other Eclipse mercenaries that were also in the area.

Carol stared at Steve for a minute before she finally looked to where Miranda was battling it out with Enyala, and even without the biotic powers that were being thrown around, it was easy to see in an instant exactly what Cap had been referring to. Miranda was throwing everything she had at Enyala, not just in terms of biotic powers, but also in terms of weapons fire, and even close combat skills, and Carol had to admit, the genetically perfect woman definitely had plenty of all that and more. Even when Enyala tried to protect herself with an energy shield around her body, it mattered very little against Miranda right now, because even if she could not force it to shut down with her biotics or weapons, she was quick to charge in and unleash a furious storm of hand-to-hand combat moves that Carol had only seen Natasha Romanoff pull off so effectively. To even think of interfering in that fight right now would have been an insult to Miranda, both because of how personal it was for her, and because of how she was finally unleashing the full extent of her true strengths, and Carol Danvers was not one to insult a person like that, so she joined Steve in dealing with the other small fries.

For Miranda, this fight was anything but spectacular, because for her, it was all about ending the person responsible for killing her friend. Yes, she realized that Niket had betrayed her, and that she had been planning to kill him herself, but he had just promised to help make up for what he had done, and the last thing she had said to him before he had been gunned down by this asari bitch was that she never wanted to see him again. That kind of thing could tear anyone apart, and given all that she had gone through today, even Miranda's cold, hard exterior would break under it all, and lucky for her, she had the perfect target to take it all out on. If any of the others saw her right now, they would likely have made a note to never piss her off again, because she was not holding anything back, and Enyala was barely able to do anything to keep herself in one piece, never mind retaliating. Eventually, Miranda had her opponent completely cornered, and she did not even bother sparing the asari any words before she raised her gun and fired the killing shot.

With Enyala now dead, Miranda turned to see that Carol and Steve had managed to subdue the rest of the Eclipse mercenaries, and she let out a tired sigh of relief at seeing this. "Feeling better now," Carol asked once she had made her way over to Miranda, her mask having now retracted so that her whole face could be seen. She was not trying to be funny or insensitive to Miranda; she really did mean it.

Miranda was able to sense the blonde's sincerity, but could only respond with a small nod before she took in one last cleansing breath to ease her nerves a little more. Once she had done so, Miranda finally found her voice again and said, "There could be more Eclipse mercs near the shuttle. I want to make sure Oriana and her family get on safely before we leave."

"Sure thing, Miranda," Steve nodded, and he immediately called up the elevator. Thankfully, they did not have to wait long, as the elevator out was already there waiting for them, but right now, there was something more important that needed to be addressed. "You sure you're okay, Miranda," Steve asked.

"I…I don't know," Miranda admitted sadly, feeling some tears start to form at the corners of her eyes. "I can't believe Niket sold me out. I didn't even see it coming, and then watching him get gunned down by that asari bitch…"

"Hey, it doesn't matter how many upgrades or enhancements a person may have. Underneath it all, they're still human, and that goes for you as well. There's nothing wrong with wanting to believe in someone," Steve told her.

"Yeah, I believed in him alright, and look where that got me," Miranda stated. "I let it get personal, and I screwed up. You should've let me kill him; I could've handled that."

"Could you, Miranda? Do you really think you'd feel any differently right now if you had been the one to kill him and not Enyala," Steve asked. Miranda did not say anything in response, but Steve did not need her too. "You still cared about him, even if he did betray you. Despite what happened, he was still your friend."

"…You're right," Miranda finally admitted after a minute, but it was not in a pleasant way. "I did still care about Niket, and my father knew that. He used it against me." At this point, Miranda was doing everything she could to keep herself controlled, but she could do nothing to keep the emotions from getting out. "It's always been like this: my father gave me anything I ever wanted, but there was always a hook; an angle for his long-term plan. I threw away everything he ever gave me when I ran except Niket, and now my father's taken him away too. Weakness on my part, but…"

"You can't just throw away everything you care about Miranda, and it's definitely not a weakness to have a connection like that with someone. Those ties you have with others can make you far stronger than you could ever be alone. Trust me, cutting yourself off from everyone and everything around you just to be safe is never the answer," Steve argued. "Besides, your father didn't really give you everything you wanted, because you found people who will watch your back for no other reason than the simple fact that you're a comrade and a friend to them on your own, and you found them with us."

Miranda nodded in thanks for that, and then said, "Well, don't worry about me too much, Steve. My father may have hurt me, but he still hasn't broken me. As much as he's always tried to turn me into exactly what he wanted, I'm my own person."

"And I'm thankful for that," Steve smiled.

"We all are," Carol added. "And more than that, you've still got your sister."

"My father didn't give her to me, Danvers. I rescued her," Miranda reminded her once again. "But…you're right. I do still have Oriana. Thank you for helping me to make sure I didn't lose her."

"Hey, what're friends for," Carol asked with a smile. With that said, the three hit the controls to get the elevator going, and after a few minutes of silence, save for the music that was playing on the speakers, Carol had to ask, "So you don't have any other friends that your father might use against us, right?"

"No. I cut all ties with everyone other than Niket when I left, and everyone that I'm close to now works for Cerberus, or Steve. My father may be powerful, but he won't try to take on the Illusive Man, and he certainly wouldn't want to try and take on Captain America or the Guardians of the Galaxy," Miranda insisted.

"Good, but if that turns out to not be the case, I'm going to be using you as my new punching bag," Carol warned, though it was clear that she was not entirely serious.

"As long as I'm not the same type of punching bag as you want Spider-Man to be," Miranda smirked in response.

"Come again," Carol asked, all sense of playfulness evaporating into confusion.

"You know, now that you mention it Miranda, I do seem to recall that merc saying something about you being a very close follower of a certain belief now," Steve commented with a grin of his own. "I believe the exact words were something along the lines of 'Miss Great-Power-Great-Responsibility?' Something you care to share with us Carol?"

Carol's face instantly turned as red as the helmeted mask she wore on her head, and even if she were to wear it right now, it would do her no good. "Well I…that-that's not…uh…I mean…oh shut up."

The rest of the ride up was spent with Steve and Miranda both laughing at Carol's embarrassment, while the blonde in question just prayed that this information did not find its way back to Peter. There was no way she would ever hear the end of it if it did, and quite frankly, she was not sure that anyone wanted the _Normandy_ to end up in the scrap yard just yet.

* * *

After getting off the elevator once again, the three did a few quick sweeps of the area just to make sure that they had cleared Eclipse out of the area, and even though they were quick sweeps, they each made sure to be as thorough as possible without raising any suspicion. When they were finally finished, they all met back up at the docking area that the shuttle would be departing from. Steve and Carol both managed to confirm that Eclipse was long gone now, at least from what they could see, and now all they had to do was wait and find out how Miranda's sweep of the area had gone. They did not have to wait long, because a few minutes after the two had met up with one another, the genetically perfect woman in question arrived soon after, a look of relief settled on her face.

"No sign of Eclipse. It looks like we're clear," Miranda reported.

"Excellent work," Cap nodded, to which Miranda just smiled, but that smile fell a little when Carol did not say anything in response.

The reason for the blonde's silence was soon made apparent though, when she turned to Miranda with a small smile of her own, indicated someone in the crowd nearby, and asked, "Hey, is that Oriana over there?"

Miranda slowly turned to where Carol was pointing and let out a small gasp of surprise at the sight of a young woman who looked a lot like her, but with shorter hair and a much brighter expression on her face before she nodded, "Yes. That's her. She's safe…with her family." Miranda's face fell a little at seeing how happy her sister seemed to be, and clearly unaware that her life had been in danger just a few short moments ago, because while that may have been what she wanted, it still hurt a little knowing that she could not involve herself in her sister's life unless she wanted to put Oriana at risk. After shaking it off, Miranda turned to the other two and said, "Come on, we should go."

You did not need any special skills to have heard the hesitancy in Miranda's voice when she had spoken, and both captains knew exactly why it was there. As much as they both wanted to respect Miranda's wish to keep Oriana safe at all costs, neither of them wanted to watch Miranda continue to deny herself a chance to really connect with her sister. "You should at least say hello before we take off," Steve told Miranda. It was not question, but it also was not an order. It was simply a friendly suggestion.

Miranda seemed to realize this, but she was not going to fold that easily. "Steve, I know what you're trying to do, but this isn't about what I want; it's about what's right for her. The less she knows about me, the better. She's got a family, a life, and I'll just complicate that for her."

"I never said tell her every last bit of your personal history. I just said that you should say hello. It wouldn't be that bad if she knew that she had an older sister who loves her so much, would it," Steve asked.

Miranda did not have an immediate answer for that, and she found herself actually considering doing as the super soldier suggested. Yes, it would be risky if she revealed herself to Oriana, but then again, she was her sister, so she would probably be able to handle it, right? Besides, Steve was right in saying that Oriana did not have to know everything about her; just the basics would suffice for now, and maybe later on, she would tell her everything when she was ready. Thinking all of these things seemed to bolster Miranda's courage little by little, until she finally felt that maybe it would be alright for her to finally approach Oriana after all of this time and introduce herself, and both captains easily picked up on it.

"Go on. We'll wait here for you. Besides, there's no way we're going to take off without the ship's XO," Carol prompted.

That was the final push that Miranda needed, and she instantly nodded to the two Age of Marvels heroes in thanks before she turned and began her journey over to where Oriana was with her family. Despite how confident she tried to look, she was sure that her nervousness was showing in her every step the closer she got, but when she finally reached the small family, Oriana looked over to her and smiled in a way that made Miranda feel like doing this would be as easy breathing. After that point, she finally took a leap of faith and did what she likely should have done a long time ago: she finally took a moment to meet and get to know her sister.

From where they were watching, Steve and Carol both just smiled at the sight before them, and when the conversation did not stop after Miranda had introduced herself, they took that to mean everything was going perfectly for her. At that moment, the threat of the Collectors, their hesitant alliance with Cerberus, and all the other problems they were dealing with seemed to just melt away into the background, because for right now, they were just happy to see the lovely sight of two sisters meeting each other for the first time like this unfold before them, both knowing that Miranda would be a better person afterwards in more ways than one.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, I said things were going to be exciting this time, and I also said that things might be tense when Cap finally met Liara, and in both cases, I was not lying. If you all know Mass Effect, then I'm sure you all know a good reason why Liara would be so cold towards Captain America, and I'm sure you all know what that little favor Tali was doing for Liara was. Also, yeah, Liara's attitude towards Cap is going to hold for a while, so don't expect her to willingly reach out to him for any reason any time soon, not unless Cap decides to give it despite any protests she might have._**

 ** _Miranda: I can't help but feel like you made me a little more emotional in this than I was originally._**

 ** _AN: Did I? Honestly, I was just going a bit further in-depth with how Miranda was feeling during the events of her loyalty mission, so forgive me if I accidentally ended up making her seem like a big old softy or something, but as an older sibling myself, I get what it's like to want to do whatever it takes to look out for your younger sibling, so I like to think that I have a pretty good idea of what had been going through Miranda's head in regards to what had happened in this mission._**

 ** _Aside from that, this time around, we got to see the Wonder Woman of Marvel show what she's really got when she gets going, and boy was that a marvel to watch. (heh, see what I did there?) Carol Danvers, the former Ms. Marvel and the current Captain Marvel. Give it up for her everyone!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Captain Marvel: You guys are just too kind. Seriously, you're adorable lyokoMARVELanime._**

 ** _AN: Aw, stop it._**

 ** _Garrus: Should we leave you two alone, or do you want us to keep an eye out for Spidey?_**

 ** _AN: Hey, don't be jealous that you got put on gun-installation duty. Honestly, I didn't want to overload the recruitment teams or go into serious detail on these last two recruitment missions, but don't think that means we won't learn at least a little bit about what happened on said missions. Oh, one more thing, if you're wondering about the whole friendly rivalry thing between Captain America and Captain Marvel, I actually got that idea from Avengers Ultron Revolution, the episode that was titled "Captain Marvel". Seriously, that was a good episode._**

 ** _So, I think that covers everything, aside from that one last bit that informs you all of what you can expect to happen in the next chapter. Simply put, it's time to move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _After returning to the ship, Cap takes the time to welcome Thane and Samara to the team and get a debrief from Gamora and Spider-Man on how their missions had gone. The team is then treated to another restful period that allows a few members to have some small heart-to-heart moments, voice some issues that they probably have, or just cut loose for a minute and have some fun. Discover just what happened while Captain America was helping Miranda save her sister, what goes down on the_** **Normandy _now that the team's gotten a little bigger, and enjoy it all while you can, because it is all just a precursor of things that are still to come as the story continues, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	13. The In-Between

_**AN: Hello everyone. After a long overdue absence, we are back once again with another exciting chapter of Avenging Normandy!**_

 _ **[audience is quiet save for cricket whistle]**_

 _ **What?...Uh, this is the part where it's supposed to be an audience applause, ya know. So why are we not hearing an applause?**_

 _ **Miranda: Probably because you took so long to update. I mean, how many months has it been since we last saw something for this story?**_

 _ **AN: Okay, to be fair, I do have other stories to write, and more than that, I do have a life outside of fanfiction.**_

 _ **Deadpool: Which I'm pretty sure I told you NOT to get! I mean, seriously! How are we supposed to show everyone how awesome I would be in this story if you get a life and never update these stories?! [gets blasted out of the room by Rocket]**_

 _ **AN: Thanks Rocket.**_

 _ **Rocket: Don't mention it. No one wants to put up with that krutacking nutcase.**_

 _ **Garrus: Getting back on topic, what really took you so long?**_

 _ **AN: I told you, I had other stories to update, like Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys, Justice Marvel, Code Avengers Cosmic, and A Spider's Focus. And besides that, I've got other things to do now that require a certain level of responsibility, so I can't just take time to write 24/7 just because...**_

 ** _Tali: Hey, as long as you're doing good work in everything you do, what does it matter how long it takes you to post an update. I'm just glad you updated any of your stories at all, this one or otherwise._**

 ** _AN: Thank you Tali. See, this is just one reason why everyone loves you so much. Anyway, EDI, would you be so kind as to list the reviews we shall be answering this time around?_**

 ** _EDI: Of course. First off is a review posted by "Forgotten Honor", regarding the matter of Doctor T'Soni's trust in Captain Rogers and a story request._**

 ** _AN: I wouldn't really call it a request when it's really more of a suggestion, EDI. Anyways, in answer to your question "Forgotten Honor", you'd actually be half right in what it would take for Liara to really trust Cap, although, I wouldn't say that it's really all a matter of distrust, but more along the lines of something else. You'll see what later on. As for your story suggestion of a similar crossover where Cap's there from the very beginning of ME1, I did consider it at one point, but the problem was figuring out how to realistically get Cap into that time frame aside from the old time portal thing that you see just about all the time in fanfictions. Though your suggestion did give me an idea on what I could do later on after I finish this story and it's sequel. Or rather, an idea for a possible prequel to this story. I'll explain more on what I mean on that later one once we get to a certain future chapter._**

 ** _EDI: Next is from the reviewer known as "BioshockerN7", regarding the loyalty missions._**

 ** _AN: Right. To answer your question, no, there are currently no plans for any MARVEL characters to have a loyalty mission of their own. At the moment, they'll each more than likely be joining some of the key Mass Effect characters on their loyalty missions. Like how Spider-Man did with Kasumi on her mission, or how Captain Marvel and Captain America were with Miranda on hers. Though I do like the suggestion you gave regarding an idea for a loyalty mission that Spidey could have. Rogers will be on a good majority of the loyalty missions, but there will actually be others where he does not join in at all, or is in a more minimal role._**

 ** _Jack: You mean like how for my mission, I'm going to be working with..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]_**

 ** _Jack: Ah shi...[suddenly gets catapulted several feet up when the floor suddenly springs up from under her. Loud crash is heard a couple minutes later, followed by some muffled swearing]_**

 ** _Spidey: Huh. I think she's gotten stuck in the ceiling._**

 ** _AN: Well...that's never happened before. Oh well. Moving on. EDI?_**

 ** _EDI: Next is the matter of Star-Lord's leadership quality and the Guardians involvement questions that were posed by reviewer "Nianque"._**

 ** _AN: Right. You have to remember, this is at least a century into the future, and a lot can change in that time for everyone, not just the people on Earth. It would be a little strange if the Guardians of the Galaxy did not at least go through a few, albeit small changes personality wise in that time. As for the Quill's leadership of Spartax, I kinda have it in my head that someone that Star-Lord really trusts to do what's right is handling things in his absence, because really, what're the Guardians of the Galaxy without Peter "Star-Lord' Quill, right? I'll be going into more detail on who Quill left in charge later on in a future conversation that will be had between the characters._**

 ** _EDI: I believe that the last reviews you wished to answer were the ones made by "FlashDevil" and "Emma Swan-TheDarkSwan"._**

 ** _AN: Right. First off, I do like the whole Star-Lord &Gamora pairing that we've been seeing so much of lately, especially in regards to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but for this story, I'm trying to keep it as close to the mainstream story of the comics as possible, for me that is, and in the mainstream of the comics, Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde were indeed a thing, and got married. Plus, I kinda like the idea of that pairing. To me it just seems...cute for lack of a better word. Maybe in another story I would do Peter&Gamora, but for this one, Kitty's Star-Lord's girl._**

 ** _As for the comment left by "Emma Swan-TheDarkSwan", yeah I can see any version of Ghost Rider running rampant throughout the galaxy of the Mass Effect Universe punishing guilty people, because there is indeed no shortage of such people in that continuity, but then again, The Illusive Man is among those guilty people, so that would present something of a problem for the team. Plus, you'd also have to remember that, as far as I know, Ghost Rider's never actually left Earth, so that could present a problem for him._**

 ** _Well, I think that's everything I wanted to cover. Now, let's find out how the last recruitment missions went, and see what's going down on the ship this time, now the team has earned themselves another period of rest. Plot a course to the chapter!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story_**

* * *

 **Chapter 13: The In-Between**

Miranda spent quite a great deal of time with her sister, right to the point that when she, Steve, and Carol finally returned to the _Normandy_ , the other teams had already gotten back from their missions as well, granting them a chance to meet the newest recruits while debriefing the team leaders at the same time. The minute he learned of this information from EDI and Joker, Steve allowed the two lovely women to depart while he headed straight for the conference room where Spider-Man and Gamora were already waiting along with the two newest members of the team. Upon entering the room, his eyes quickly found the two individuals he had yet to meet, and he quickly began taking in their appearances while determining which alien races they belonged to based off what he had recently read about the Citadel alien races and what he had read in the dossiers that the Illusive Man had sent him.

The first was a man with green skin and deep black eyes which Steve instantly identified as a member of the reptile-like alien race known as the drell, and he was decked out in an all black outfit, which included a coat that was left unzipped and allowed his collar to be seen. The second was obviously an asari, but unlike the other asari that Steve had seen up until now, there was something about this one that not only seemed to exude power even when she was simply standing where she was, but also seemed to indicate the spirit of one who had been around for a long time and seen a great many things in that long lifetime. This also showed through the somewhat passive look in her eyes, which Steve instantly recognized as the eyes of a warrior who had seen many different battlefields, having seen that same look in the eyes of Thor and in the mirror quite a few times in his life. The asari was dressed in a red outfit that covered nearly all of her body, save for the open collar that allowed her chest to be partially seen, a red headpiece that was worn just over her eyes, and a dull gold collar around her neck. After taking another minute to look over the people in the room, Steve finally decided to get the debriefing started so that they could cut to the chase on the specifics of their mission.

"Welcome to the _Normandy_. My name is Steve Rogers, captain of this vessel," the super soldier began.

"Yes, the Earth hero Captain America. Your reputation precedes you, sir," the asari nodded in recognition. "I am Samara of the Asari Justicar."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. From what I've read of your profile about your skills, you'll make a very strong addition to the team," Steve nodded as he exchanged a handshake with the asari.

"Thank you. From a warrior of your reputation and skill, that is high praise," Samara nodded.

Steve then turned to the leader of the team he had sent to meet with Samara, asking the obvious silent question, and Spider-Man did not hesitate to give his opinion. "After seeing Samara's biotic powers in action, I can definitely say that the file wasn't lying about how strong they are, and she definitely has a better level of control than Jack. Any chance we could consider asking her to teach said nutcase?"

"If that is what you wish for me to do, then by the oath I have sworn and by the code, I am obligated to do so," Samara stated, eliciting a slightly nervous reaction from Spider-Man.

Steve was naturally confused by said reaction, but he put it aside for later, thinking that it would be explained later in the debriefing, and then turned to the other recent arrival in the room. "My name is Thane Krios, Captain. Trained to be an assassin for hire by the hanar, and I am happy to accept the contract to work for you," the drell informed him.

"I was unaware that we would need to pay you for your services," Steve slowly stated, further indicating how this was news to him.

"You will not need to pay me, Captain Rogers. I have decided to work for you free of charge. I am far more concerned with the abduction of the human colonists," Thane explained.

"You do realize that this mission will require us to pass through the Omega 4 Relay, right? The same relay that no ship has ever passed through and returned from," Steve inquired.

"Yes. Low survival rates do not concern me in the least, Captain. I simply want to make the galaxy a little brighter before I die," Thane explained.

"And an asari Justicar does not worry about such matters so long as she fulfills her mission," Samara added.

Steve nodded to the both of them, and then looked to Gamora, who simply replied with a look that said he would receive full details of her opinion on Thane during the debriefing. With that little exchange, the Age of Marvels captain dismissed both Thane and Samara, after requesting where they would like to be placed on the ship, to which Thane chose the area near the life support plant on the crew deck, while Samara chose the observation room on the same deck, namely the one that was positioned opposite of the one Kasumi was rooming in. Once the two new team members had left, Steve turned to the remaining two so that he could hear their mission reports. After a minute of silence though, it seemed clear that they were waiting for him to say something, so he simply decided to settle with, "So, who wants to go first?"

Spider-Man and Gamora exchanged a quick glance between them, after the former had let his helmet open up so that his face could be seen, and after that little exchange, the deadly female of the two took point in the debriefing. "After meeting with Serena, we found out that Thane had been hired to kill Nassana Dantius, and that his attempt on her life would be beginning in just a few short hours."

"Meaning you had a very small window of opportunity to act," Steve guessed, noting out of the corner of his eye that Peter had decided to make himself comfortable and sat up on the wall like he always would.

"Right," Gamora nodded. "I've been keeping tabs on all the major names in the galaxy when it comes to assassins, having been one myself at one point, so I already knew that Thane had a reputation for preferring to kill his targets up close and personal. That meant that he would likely try to sneak into Nassana's building to kill her in person. Given the size of said building, and the fact that it was still in the midst of construction, I figured that the best way to get his attention would be by going there and making our way to Nassana. Granted, we would be distracting Nassana's guards for Thane, but that would still better serve our purpose."

"And make sure that he was able to kill this Nassana woman in the process," Spidey cut in, clearly not okay with that kind of plan.

Gamora leveled a small glare at the web-head, having held back on a full one since she knew what Parker was like, and then explained, "Nassana is no saint, Parker, and that was only proven by the fact that she had ordered for the salarian workers in the building to be purged by the mechs at her disposal just a short time before we had arrived. I'm sure that Garrus had at least mentioned his past dealings with her to you from his days of working with Commander Shepard, hadn't he?"

Spider-Man fell silent at that, proving that Garrus had likely mentioned that to him at least once, and then allowed Gamora to continue from where she had left off. "It wasn't the most clean of fights, given that Quill was in our group, but that little hiccup was more than compensated for given Mordin and Kasumi's skills. We also managed to rescue a few of the salarian workers before we finally came face-to-face with Nassana herself. Afterwards, all we could do was watch as Thane dropped down and did his work. Oddly enough, after killing Nassana, Thane actually folded his hands in prayer, and at first, I thought that he was giving a prayer for her."

"Are you saying that he wasn't," Steve asked.

"Yes. He told us that he was actually saying a prayer for him. Afterwards, he told us that the only reason he waited until after he had killed Nassana to speak with us was because he was curious to see how far we would go to find him, and that Nassana had suspected that one of her sisters would be the one who was trying to kill her. I'd say that we pretty much satisfied his curiosity when we marched in and came face-to-face with the asari bitch," Gamora continued. "With all of that cleared up, I pretty much explained the situation to him regarding the Collectors and our mission to stop him, and told him pretty much the same thing that you just did. He gave the same response that he gave you, along with the reason as to why low survival rates don't concern him."

"And what exactly was that," Steve inquired, honestly being curious about that since the drell had made the comment.

Gamora paused for a moment, as if she was still having a hard time believing the reason, before she finally revealed it to both of the Age of Marvels heroes in the room. "It's because he's dying…"

* * *

 _After having fought their way up through Nassana's building, Gamora, Star-Lord, Kasumi, and Mordin had all been more than ready to get into one final showdown with the asari's last line of defense, and it looked like Nassana was going to be more than happy to throw the Eclipse mercenaries at them like they were the mechs that had already been destroyed. What happened instead was the team being treated to a show of Thane Krios' abilities, as the drell swiftly dropped down and dispatched all of Nassana's remaining guards before ending Nassana's life with a gunshot through her stomach. After laying the dirty asari diplomat down on the nearby table and saying a small prayer for himself, and once the green skinned swordswoman of team had signaled the others to stand down, Thane had listened to Gamora's explanation on why they were looking for him, and he further surprised them when he accepted their request for him to join them with little hesitation. That surprise was nothing when he explained why._

 _"This was to be my last job," Thane explained. "I'm dying. Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of the human colonists does."_

 _"Whoa. Uh, did anyone else know that our boy here was dying," Quill inquired after retracting his helmet, his worried expression now visible to all, while Mordin had already brought up his omni-tool to scan the drell in an attempt to discern the problem._

 _"Hm. Given knowledge of drell species and occupation of Mister Krios, possibly safe to assume that Kepral's Syndrome disease is cause," Mordin muttered softly, though given how silent it was in the room, everyone was still able to hear him._

 _"You are correct, Doctor," Thane nodded._

 _"Is this disease contagious," Gamora inquired. She had no intention of bringing a sick person aboard the_ Normandy _if there was a chance that the entire crew could catch the assassin's disease._

 _"No, the problem isn't contagious, and it won't affect my work. If you require any further details, we can discuss them later," Thane informed her, clearly showing her that he did not want to talk about it right now._

 _"Well there must be something we can do," Kasumi prompted. She could not really help herself. Ever since her little mission with Spider-Man, Kasumi had found herself becoming a bit more open to helping others in whatever way was possible for her, much like her kumo-ani normally would._

 _"Giving me this opportunity is enough," Thane reassured the master thief. "The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die." He then became a little more somber as he recalled something from earlier as they were all making their way up. "Many innocents died today. I wasn't fast enough and they suffered. I must atone for that. I will work for you, Gamora. No charge."_

 _Gamora nodded in thanks to that while the others hung their heads a bit in sadness, having been reminded of the dead workers that they had seen on their way up when Thane had mentioned it. They could not help but feel that if they had been a little faster as well, they might have been able to help save all of them. Thankfully, they had managed to save at least a few of the workers, so they were able to take solace in that. Still, there was one thing that Thane had said that Gamora still needed to correct him on. "I'm glad to hear that you're willing to work with us for free, but it won't be me you'll be working for."_

 _"Then who will it be," Thane asked._

 _"…Captain America."_

* * *

"…Afterwards, we came back here, and waited for you. Spider-Man and his group returned just a few seconds after we got in, and while our respective teams dispersed to go about their own business, he and I came up here with Thane and Samara to wait for you. The rest you already know," Gamora finished.

Steve nodded in acceptance of this, and then dismissed Gamora, congratulating her on a job well done and asking her to give his thanks to the rest of her teammates for said mission as well as he did. Gamora just smiled in response and then left the briefing room, leaving Spider-Man as the only one left in the room with him. Seeing that was the case, Peter took a quick minute to collect himself so he could debrief Cap on how things went for his team. After all, there were quite a few things that he needed to inform Rogers of, and it was not just in regards to how their mission to locate and recruit Samara had gone, but those details could wait until after Steve had heard what he wanted to hear about first.

"Well as you know, we went to see Officer Dara at the transportation hub after we split off from you and the others. When we told her that we were looking for Samara though, she freaked out at first, thinking that we were there to file a complaint or to report that she had killed someone. Thankfully, Kitty was able to help me calm her down and reassure Dara that we just needed to talk with Samara, and after that, she told us that Samara had gone to the commercial space port a few hours before we had gotten there. Before we left though, she warned us to be polite when we met her since Samara wasn't used to dealing with other alien species aside from asari," Peter started off.

"Any particular reason," Steve asked.

"Apparently, Justicars embody the highest laws of the asari and they usually stay in Asari Space. If you follow the laws, you've got nothing to worry about and Justicars would die without hesitation to protect the innocent, but their code orders them to stop lawbreakers by any means necessary, including lethal force. At least, that's what Dara told us," Peter explained as best as he could. "More to the point, Dara was especially worried about alien species coming into contact with Samara, because if a justicar killed an asari, none of them would have a problem with it, but if she killed a human…"

"There would be a whole series of serious problems afterwards," Steve concluded for the web-head, seeing exactly where he was going with it.

"Exactly," Spider-Man confirmed. "So, having learned all we could from Dara, we headed out and met up with a detective who had been investigating a murder in the area. Apparently, Samara had already gone through to the sealed off crime scene."

"They actually let her in there," Steve asked, incredulously.

"Apparently, she's been looking over crime scenes longer than a lot of asari life spans combined, but there was another little complication for the detective. Not only that, but her bosses wanted her to detain Samara since they were worried about her causing a cross-species incident or something. The problem with that was that her code wouldn't let her be taken into custody without a fight, so if the detective tired it, Samara would have to kill her, so she was really hoping that we'd be able to get Samara to leave the district first," Spider-Man explained.

"How did she think you'd be able to do that," Steve asked.

"Apparently, justicars are drawn to missions with impossible odds, so I guess you can see why our mission would have a certain appeal to her," Spidey shrugged. He then resumed where he left off. "After getting the detective's permission to enter the crime scene area, we found ourselves fighting through a whole gang of Eclipse mercenaries, some of which had apparently heard of what we had did to their guys on Omega, and who thought that they could make a name for themselves by taking down two Guardians of the Galaxy and the infamous Jack, until finally, we met the Justicar herself as she was interrogating one of the mercs about a criminal that they had smuggled off-world, and let me tell you, the biotic powers she showed off alone was incredible…"

* * *

 _Spider-Man and his team had just reached the docking control area that was inside the crime scene when they heard a window crash, followed by someone screaming, and immediately looked to the source. A moment later, Samara came gliding down from the control room, her entire body coated in the blue energy of her biotics, and she easily landed on her feet as though she had been floating down from the sky. They then saw the justicar slam her boot down on the neck of the mercenary she had just thrown through the window, and begin interrogating said mercenary. There was still some distance between them and her, so they could not quite make out everything that was being said, but it was still enough for them to be able to tell that she was very likely to kill the merc no matter what answers she received. Knowing this, Spider-Man was instantly prepared to jump in and stop her, but he quickly remembered Dara's warning about Samara and managed to restrain himself, somehow. It definitely helped when Kitty put a hand on his arm in an attempt to prevent him from charging in, for which he was very grateful. That did not make it any easier to watch as Samara snapped the neck of the asari beneath her boot._

 _Shaking himself out of his dread at the sight he had just witnessed, Spidey steeled himself and lead his team forward, coughing a little to gain Samara's attention while making sure that no one was raising weapons or doing anything else to indicate that they had hostile intentions towards her. When Samara turned towards them, her biotics instantly faded, and her eyes seemed to fixate on the group, especially in the case of Kitty, Drax, Groot, and Spidey. "My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see three of the mighty Guardians of the Galaxy, three well armed people, and a man in very interesting armor before me," the asari stated as she looked over the group. Eventually, her eyes settled on Kitty and asked, "Are we friend or foe?"_

 _"We are here as friends, but if you want to hear the full reason, you should hear what my old friend here has to say," Kitty replied, waving in Spider-Man's direction as she did._

 _When the Justicar had fixed her gaze on him, Peter could not help but feel a little intimidated by her gaze. It felt rather similar to the one he fell under whenever he was in the presence of the original Madame Web, Doctor Strange, or others like them, at least to Peter, but he managed to burry those anxieties so that he could focus on the matter at hand. "My name is Spider-Man. I'm a human hero from Earth, and we need your help for a very important mission."_

 _"Spider-Man? I am somewhat familiar with the heroes from Earth's Age of Marvels, but I had thought that you were long dead," Samara noted, and though her tone remained cool, calm, and even, you could still detect a slight undercurrent of confusion in there, and maybe a small amount of awe._

 _"Well news of my demise was somewhat exaggerated, but it's a long story that can wait for a later time, because we really need your help with this," Spider-Man easily answered._

 _"You honor me, but I am in the middle of an investigation," Samara politely refused._

 _Spidey was not going to let it go that easily and quickly pressed on. "What if I told you that the odds we were up against were practically if not completely suicidal which required us to have only the best with us to make sure that we had at least a small chance of succeeding? Specifically people like you."_

 _"I sense the truth in what you say, and it humbles me, but I seek an incredibly dangerous fugitive," Samara revealed. "I cornered her here, but the Eclipse sisters smuggled her off-world. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."_

 _"I wish you were willing to go with the human, Justicar. I've been ordered to take you into custody if you won't leave," announced Detective Anaya as she stepped into the room with everyone else._

 _This did not seem to sit all that well with Samara. "You risk a great deal by following your orders detective. Fortunately, I will not have to resist. My code obligates me to cooperate with you for one day. After that, I must return to my investigation."_

 _"I won't be able to release you that soon," Anaya warned._

 _"You won't be able to stop me," Samara pointed out._

 _"I am Groot."_

 _Everyone looked to the big, talking tree in question before Spider-Man asked, "Translation please?"_

 _"Groot wants to know if there is a way for us to all get what we need," Kitty replied._

 _"We could simply settle this like warriors," Grunt offered, pumping his fists to show he was ready for a fight, something that they did not need right now._

 _"Okay, let's call that Plan B, or Plan C, or Plan Last Resort," Spider-Man insisted before things got out of hand._

 _"You should really choose a name to settle on instead of three," Drax told his arachnid companion._

 _Spider-Man ignored his overly literal friend in favor of returning his attention to Samara, silently repeating the question that Groot had asked. "There is one way. While I am in custody, you must find the name of that ship. Do that and I will join you. Then the code will be satisfied."_

 _"Just like that," Jack asked in disbelief._

 _"Indeed young one," Samara nodded._

 _Jack bristled a little at being called young one, but she quickly remembered that Samara was an asari, and one who was much older than she could likely expect to ever be, so she suppressed her usual urge to lash out at the person who had made such a remark. Seeing that the resident crazy biotic was not going to attack their hopeful new teammate, Jacob took the chance to ask the all-important question. "Do you have any leads we could follow up on to find the name of that ship? We can't exactly just go looking around the whole area without at least an idea of where to start."_

 _"The volus merchant, Pitne For is tied to this. Eclipse mercs are preparing to kill him. Get the truth out of him. He may know a way to the Eclipse base," Samara offered, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy the team. With all of that said, they gave a quick goodbye to Samara and Anaya, and then headed out to track down the volus in question._

* * *

"Sounds like she left quite the first impression on you all," Steve could not help but note, interrupting Spider-Man's story as he did.

"That's…one way to put it," Peter admitted. He was honestly not too fond of how Samara had outright killed her prisoner, but given that they needed someone of her skills, he knew that he would have to live with it. Besides, it was not like Samara was the only killer on this team, and he was already living with that fact, so that made things a little easier for him in that regard. Shoving the thought aside, Peter returned his attention back to the story and picked up from where he left off. "We tracked down the volus Samara had mentioned, who coincidentally, we had actually passed by after we had arrived in the district, and questioned him about the information that we needed. He tried to deny it at first, but we were able to get him to come around."

"Tell me you didn't have Drax play bad cop," Steve lightly begged. He had heard from Quill how bad Drax was at acting when it came to things like that, or rather, how often Drax would take such roles too far, and he had no desire to hear that such a thing had happened here.

"No, we didn't. I had Jack and Grunt do it," Spider-Man refuted. That seemed to draw a bit of relief from the super soldier, and the web-head then picked up where he left off once again. "What we didn't expect was having to deal with a problem that involved a chemical that Pitne For had smuggled in. The chemical enhances biotic powers in battle, but take in too much and you die. When Eclipse found out, they were more than ready to deal with the guy who had smuggled it in for them. That was a small detail for us though, because right then, we were more concerned about finding out the name of the ship that Samara's target had escaped on. Pitne For didn't know anything about Eclipse's people smuggling operations, but he was able to give us a key into their base so that we could get the information from there."

"And did you," Steve asked.

"We did, along with proof of Pitne For's smuggling operations regarding the chemical he mentioned and Red Sand. Detective Anaya was very happy to get that from us, but she was even happier to hear that we had found the information that would get Samara out of her district," Spider-Man confirmed. He then hesitated for a minute before continuing, much to Steve's confusion, until he finally said, "After receiving the information we had promised her, Samara was more than happy to leave immediately, but before she could officially join us, she apparently had to be sworn to our service so she would not have to choose between our orders and her code."

"So why did she not do that when she was here a moment ago," Steve asked.

"That's what I'm wondering about," Peter muttered. "More to the point, she just wouldn't allow herself to leave and wait until she met you before she could swear herself in, so she decided to do what she believed was the next best thing."

"And that would be?"

Peter hesitated for a second before he finally said, "She swore herself to my service. I doubt I need to tell you that I was…not all that fond of the idea…"

* * *

 _"No,_ _nonononono. Nu-uh. No way! I am_ not _the guy you want to be making that kind of oath to! I may be one of Cap's old friends, but I'm not his second in command or anything like that," Spider-Man vehemently protested once he had heard Samara's decision to swear her loyalties to him._

 _"Not that it would be a much better choice to swear herself to the actual second-in-command," Jack muttered, drawing a small chuckle from Grunt and a discreet eye-roll from Jacob._

 _"But you are a trusted ally of the captain's, and a powerful warrior of justice with righteous beliefs. Therefore, you are the ideal choice," Samara pointed out._

 _"Hey you know who would be a much more sensible choice? Kitty. You know, as in Kitty Pryde-Quill, alias Star-Lady, alias the woman who serves as the government liaison between Earth and the Shi'ar," Spider-Man pointed out as he indicated the mutant in question._

 _"I am well aware of Mrs. Quill's reputation and titles, and I mean no disrespect to her in my choice. However, I still believe that you are the better option out of everyone here in the place of your captain," Samara continued to insist._

 _"It's not like she's wrong about better options when it comes to this group," Jacob agreed as he looked around amongst the team. "Her options are a convicted, possibly crazed biotic, a Krogan-Hulk, Drax the Destroyer, and a talking tree that very few people can understand because all anyone else ever normally hears is the same three words over and over again."_

 _"And what about you? What's the flaw with you being the guy she's sworn to," Jack questioned, glaring a bit at Jacob for how he had described her. It was not like she was always that proud of the path she had chosen in life, or rather the path she had been forced to choose, but most of her anger was due to the fact that Jacob was Cerberus._

 _"Do you really need to ask," Jacob asked as he indicated the Cerberus badge on his chest._

 _"I believe that was the whole point of her asking," Drax pointed out, missing the sarcasm of Jacob's statement._

 _"Can we please just get it over with so we can get back. I'm getting hungry," Grunt grumbled._

 _Looking around and seeing that there was no way for him to get out of this, Spider-Man finally sighed in defeat, turned to Samara, and said, "Okay fine, but as soon as you meet Cap, you have to transfer this oath over to him."_

 _Samara did not give any sort of positive recognition to Spidey's words, and a minute later, the team watched as her eyes glowed a little before she dropped down to one knee in front of the web-swinger. "By the code I will serve you, Spider-Man. Your choices are my choices. Your morals are my morals. Your wishes are my code," Samara recited, and a second later, her biotics flared around her, apparently signaling that the oath was now completely as she stood up once again._

 _"I never thought I'd see a justicar swear an oath like that," Anaya whispered._

 _"If you make me do anything extremely dishonorable, I may need to kill you when I am released from my oath," Samara then cautioned Spidey._

 _"Well it's a good thing you've sworn that oath to Spider-Man. He's the last person to make anyone do something that would be considered dishonorable, horrible, or just flat out wrong in anyway," Kitty commented with a small grin._

 _Spidey just rolled his eyes behind his mask at Kitty before returning his attention to Samara and said, "Thank you for this Samara. We're all looking forward to working with you."_

 _"Truly, the life of a justicar can get lonely. I admit I am looking forward to serving in the company of honorable heroes," Samara informed the web-head with a nod._

 _"Yeah. That's…one way of describing us," Jack muttered to herself._

 _"Shall we return to your ship," Samara then asked, having not heard Jack, a fact that Spidey could not help but feel very thankful for._

* * *

"…We only stuck around to give Detective Anaya some evidence we had found about the murder she was investigating, which got us a small discretionary bounty fund as thanks, and then came back here. You heard what happened afterwards from Gamora already, so I'll spare you the ending details on that," Spidey finally finished. For a moment afterwards, there was only silence between the two heroes, and that came as more of a surprise to Peter than it did to Steve. When that silence continued on, the web-head finally took a full study of Steve's expression and found that he seemed to be struggling to hold back an amused smile or something along those lines. "What? What did I say?"

"Sorry Peter. It's just…I can't help but note how it seems like asari seem to have a certain attraction to you," Steve chuckled.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, first there was that whole thing with Aria, and now this with Samara. You have to admit, given what we know about asari, it's a little surprising that so many of them have taken an interest in you," Steve reasoned.

"Okay, first off, Aria is like an asari version of Black Cat mixed with Kingpin, as we've already fully established. Second, it's not like I _wanted_ Samara to make that kind of oath to me, but it was the only way we were going to get her to join up with us at the time," Peter defended with a small huff. His defenses quickly crumbled though as he begged, "Just do me a favor and never mention the whole Aria thing to Carol, please. And while we're on the subject, could you also be the one who tells her about the whole Samara thing?"

"I can understand that first one, but why the second? Don't tell me you don't want to tell her yourself," Captain America asked. His response was a silent, flat look from the web-head that clearly displayed his disbelief at Cap's question just now, since Steve really should have known the answer by now. "Okay, fair enough. Still, don't you think you should at least try to talk to her instead of hiding or running from her all the time?"

"What, you think I haven't tried at least once? Every time she enters the room and so much as catches a glimpse of me, it's instantly the start of Hit-the-Spider, Sudden Death Version! And the few times I actually did try to seek her out and attempt civil conversation, she instantly started throwing energy beams at me shouting for me to get out and leave her alone," Peter protested.

This little tidbit led Steve to wonder just how the ship was still intact after all these skirmishes between Spider-Man and Captain Marvel, but he figured that it was probably something related to future engineering or Cerberus engineering, so he set it aside for now. At the same time, he also made a mental note to have a little chat with Carol later to see if he could attempt to get her to try and calmly talk with Peter before something serious did happen to the ship, the crew, or to one of them. He then looked to Peter and said, "Alright, that'll be all Spider-Man. You can go now."

Hearing that did prompt Peter to come down from off the wall, but he did not make any moves to leave, and that alone indicated that he had something else to say. "Uh Cap, there's one other thing that I think you ought to know. During the mission, whenever we got into a fight with Eclipse, which was like ninety percent of the time, there was something…off about Grunt."

That sent up warning bells for Steve in an instant, because given Grunt's nature as a Krogan-Hulk, something being off was not likely to mean anything good. "Explain. Quickly," Steve ordered.

"It's…a little hard to describe, really," Peter admitted. "During most of the fights, he was fighting like he always has up until now, at least as far as I know, but at some points, it was like he would just black out and jump into a full-on battle rage and start swinging like a wild, angry beast or something. Each of us were able to snap him out of it usually, but sometimes, it took a bit more than just some shouting to bring him to his senses. I even had to use some Taser Webs at one point to make him chill out. He always seemed fine afterwards, but I could tell he was a bit confused or…disturbed by what had happened. It was almost like he did not really understand why he had lashed out in the way that he had."

"I thought you and some of the Guardians have been working with him to help him learn how to control his gamma rage like I have been whenever I had a chance," Steve pointed out.

"And we have," Peter reassured him. "Trust me, I know for a fact that Gamora and Drax have been doing everything they can to help Grunt get a handle on his Hulk-like abilities, but this didn't really feel like that. Well…not entirely. Remember, Grunt isn't just a Hulk like Ross, A-Bomb, and Jen; he's also part krogan, practically one of the most pure krogans in years. There's a lot about krogan biology that the rest of the galaxy doesn't really know, at least when it comes to things beyond what's considered as general knowledge. I'm not saying that there might not be at least a bit of a Hulk-related issue involved here, but what I am saying is that we should at least consider the possibility that this may be related to the krogan side of our big pal."

Steve placed a hand to his chin in thought as he considered Spider-Man's words. What many people often forgot about Spidey was that despite his joking, talkative nature, Peter Parker was in fact a very bright young man, and a scientist at that. This was a fact that was only further enforced by the fact that he had once served as Tony Stark's protégé, which was easily proven due to the repulsor gauntlets in his armor. More than that, Peter was also one of the most experienced heroes in the Age of Marvels, having fought every kind of bad guy and villain under the sun in those days, so he had little reason to really ignore any ideas that the revived web-swinger had when it came to serious matters like this. He also had a strong point about Grunt's krogan nature having an effect on him that they had likely overlooked up until now. Whatever the case may be, it sounded like it had not really happened too often, even if it was during a mission, so it was probably okay to set aside for the moment. Still, they also had to consider what might happen if it was not eventually addressed, so Steve figured it was probably a good idea to have a chat with Grunt at some point soon.

Having settled on this course of action, Steve looked back up to Peter again and nodded in thanks as he said, "I appreciate you telling me this Peter. I'll look into it as soon as I can. Is there anything else you feel that I should know?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but I do think that Kelly had something she wanted to tell you. Either that, or she has a message she wanted to pass along to you," Peter replied.

Steve gave his young friend another nod of thanks and then watched as the wall-crawler left the conference room so that he could either get some rest or something to eat. Afterwards, he left the conference room as well, his mind still on what he had just heard about from Parker, until he reached the galaxy map where Kelly was busily working at her terminal. Realizing that the ship's captain was standing behind her, Kelly immediately glanced up from her work and said, "Captain, it seems that crew morale is now at an all-time high after the missions to recruit Tali, Thane, and Samara. Add in the fact that the _Normandy_ 's now rearmed with new weapons and may be getting some new shielding, and I'd say that they might be getting a little too overconfident."

"Well I certainly hope that isn't the case, Kelly. You tend to make more mistakes when you're overconfident," Steve informed the yeoman.

"You don't need to tell me that, Cap, but I am a little concerned about the interactions between Major Danvers and Mister Parker. I can't help but feel that they have some issues that need to be worked out, beyond the more obvious ones," Kelly commented, drawing a small smirk onto Steve's face.

"You don't need to tell me that, Kelly, but I think you probably should try to at least talk with Carol before one of her little rampages towards Spidey ends up causing more serious damage to the ship," Steve lightly joked, even though it was clear that he was being serious. "Those two may be in a rocky place right now, but then again, that's also how they started out. They'll work through it eventually and become fast friends again before you know it. Of course, a little push to speed things up wouldn't hurt."

"My female intuition tells me that Major Danvers wants to be more than just friends, in regards to Mister Parker," Kelly corrected. "There's just something in the way that she glares at him that says that she's not just angry at him, but also hurt in a way that's not typical of someone who only thinks of a person as a good friend. Plus the fact that her attention seems to be drawn to him when she thinks no one is looking or able to notice is a strong indicator as well."

That small smirk Steve had on his face now became much larger, seeing that Kelly had picked up on that little detail of Peter and Carol's relationship, even though she had only known the two for a short time now. Sure, it was clear as day that Peter had something of a thing for Carol, but when it came to the blonde and her feelings for the wall-crawler, it was almost impossible to really see how she felt about something, let alone some _one_ without really knowing her that well in most cases. Then again, given how Carol had been acting around Peter ever since she came aboard, and what he and Miranda had learned when they were fighting to save Oriana, maybe she had become a bit more obvious than she had been before. Regardless of whatever the case may have been, Kelly's assessment was still one that Steve had to agree on, wholeheartedly. That did not mean that he was not going to at least warn Kelly off before she did or said something that Carol either did not like or want to hear at the moment.

"Maybe you should avoid mentioning that you noticed those details to Carol for a little while whenever you talk to her. She's not one who likes having that kind of thing publicized in anyway," Steve cautioned. When Kelly nodded in understanding, Steve then moved on to the big reason as to why he was talking with Kelly in the first place. "Spidey said that you wanted to talk to me about something. Is there something I should know about?"

"Well, Grunt has seemed a little anxious lately. I've seen him pacing down in the cargo hold quite a few times when you or one of the others who have been training him aren't around," Kelly reported.

"Yes, I've heard about our resident krogan's odd behavior. Anything else," Steve asked.

"Yes. Mordin has said that he would like a word with you in the lab whenever you get a chance," Kelly reported. "Anything else, Cap?"

"No, that'll be all for now, Kelly. I'll talk with you later," Steve informed her, and after getting a quick farewell from the redhead as she returned to her work, Steve made his way over to Mordin's lab.

Like the last few times he had came to talk with the salarian scientist in his lab, Steve found Mordin humming to himself as he steadily and quickly worked away, but there was something about the way that Mordin was working that set off a few warning signals for Steve. For one, the tune that Mordin was humming did not quite sound as excited or joyful as the last one, and for another thing, he seemed to have slowed his working pace quite a bit in comparison to the last few times that they had talked while they were in his lab. That likely meant that Mordin was working on a very delicate experiment, or something very serious was bothering the salarian, and given what he had now heard from Kelly, Steve was pretty sure that it was the latter. Even if that were not the case, Steve was not going to sit back and just let Mordin's problems bother him for long if he could do something to help the scientist, so he quickly stepped up and let out a small cough to get Mordin's attention.

Mordin did not notice or hear Steve right away, seeing as he was very engrossed in his work, but after a couple more coughs, Mordin finally looked up and smiled a bit when he laid eyes on his guest. "Ah Rogers. How can I help," the salarian asked.

"I think that should be my line. Kelly said that you wanted to talk to me about something," Steve asked.

"Yes. Confess would be more accurate actually," Mordin admitted as he turned away and glanced out the window as space and energy flew past with a slightly solemn look. "Talked about work earlier. Time with Special Tasks Group. Studying genophage. Wasn't entirely honest. Lie of omission. Also other kinds. Need to clear the air. Mission too important to keep secrets. Work on genophage was more than just study."

Steve quickly figured out what Mordin meant by that rapid response, and he already did not like where Mordin was going with that. It was bad enough in his opinion that the genophage was used at all, but if Mordin and his team had done something else, then that could not mean anything good in his opinion. Still, he was not going to jump to conclusions, and the fact that Mordin was coming forward about this now was saying something about the salarian, if Steve did not know that it was most likely because of what they had all been through on Horizon. Mordin had been down there with the rest of the team too, so he understood what they were really up against just as well as everyone else now did. It just made sense that he would be shaken up like the others, so this little confession was probably his way of making sure he did not go into their ultimate mission with any regrets plaguing his mind. Steve could understand why he would feel a need to air those out, and he respected that, so he braced himself for what he was about to hear and requested that Mordin elaborate. But he did make it clear by his tone that Mordin should choose his words very carefully.

"Just what did you do, and why keep this to yourself," Steve quietly demanded.

"Apologies. Classified information, but you've earned the full story. Need to know me. What I can do. What I did," Mordin explained, clearing up why he did not reveal this information sooner. Steve let it slide a little, given his history with SHIELD, but it was also that same history that made him not relax entirely. "Wasn't lying completely. Initially just did recon. But uncovered data. Troubling."

"Troubling how," Steve asked.

"Krogan population was increasing at faster rate than expected. Krogan were adapting to genophage. Overcoming disease."

"And you're sure they weren't just having a better year or were just not going off as recklessly on merc jobs as they had been before," Steve questioned.

"Please, Rogers. Social, environmental concerns accounted for. Not an undergraduate," Mordin scoffed, but there was no pride in the statement when he said it. "Population spike caused by adaptation to genophage. No other possibility."

"What about the krogan scientists? Couldn't they have found a treatment," Steve continued to question.

"Krogan scientist," Mordin asked with a dry chuckle. "Never met krogan scientist worthy of term. No. Natural evolution. Krogan physiology incredibly durable. Organ redundancy, backup systems, cellular regeneration. Genophage like any other natural hazard. Krogan evolved past it."

"Okay, I get the point," Steve interrupted before the salarian could get any further into the more complicated science of it all. "I don't really see how that's a problem though. The genophage was a serious and terrible mistake, and they had a chance to recover. Surely you've seen how they had suffered because of what the genophage had done to them."

"I have seen results, but viewpoint is terribly naïve, Rogers," Mordin disputed. "Krogan too dangerous to allow unchecked birthrate. Look at Krogan Rebellions."

"Mordin, I'm not sure that I like what you're implying here," Steve warned.

"Understand. Must still inform you all the same," Mordin sadly nodded. "Personally led a science team. Geneticists, chemists, sociologists, mathematicians. Created new version of genophage. Released it on Tuchanka, other krogan-centric areas. Restabilized krogan population."

"You. Did. WHAT," Steve nearly hollered furiously, glaring holes so far into Mordin, it was likely that he would have obliterated the entire side of the ship that was behind the salarian.

"Rogers, please. Considered other options. Hundreds. Thousands. Modified genophage best outcome," Mordin attempted to placate. "Stabilized population. Avoided publicity that could incite krogan anger. Averted potential genocide or devastating war. Best solution for whole galaxy, krogan included."

"Somehow, I doubt that. You practically sterilized them entirely! I know from my experiences with Grunt and with the krogans we have fought before just how powerful a small group of krogan are, but that's no reason to act on to avoid something that may or may not happen just because a few people are afraid," Steve reprimanded.

"Fear was not an entirely deciding factor. More importantly, not a war criminal. Not a murderer. Genocide unnecessary," Mordin argued back almost just as heatedly. "Yes, krogan in small numbers destructive, but krogan as a whole much more violent, aggressive. Still have outliers. Worth saving. Genophage modification protected galaxy, allowed krogan chance to survive. Everyone wins. Good for us, good for them!"

Steve could tell when he was not about to win an argument, or when he was up against a very stubborn person who believed they were in the right no matter what was said (Spending so many years in the company of Tony Stark really helps with such things), so he let the matter drop and decided to move on to another topic as calmly as he could. "Just how did you distribute this…modified genophage," Steve asked, having to stop himself from calling it a bioweapon, since he was sure that Mordin would not have liked that.

"Covert drops. Hospitals, clan centers, water supplies. Very difficult. Few salarians on Tuchanka," Mordin explained shortly. "Team got caught a few times. Had to fight free. Messy. Better when things went as planned."

"Most of the time, maybe, but sometimes, things can work out much better when they don't go as planned," Steve disputed. Before his anger could get the better of him again, he took a quick, cleansing breath and said, "I may not approve of what you did, but I do see why you told me this. You wanted to prove that you're willing to do whatever it takes if it comes down to it."

"Indeed. Not really proud of work, but had to choose the best out of all other options. Was not easy choice. Collectors doing horrific things. May face hard choices. Wanted you to know I'm willing to do what's necessary," Mordin explained.

"I appreciate that, but I want to make one thing clear, Mordin. Unless it's the Collectors, what's necessary does not include anyone on our team dying, be it you, me, or anyone on this crew. Understand," Steve asked.

"Perfectly," Mordin nodded. "Should get back to work now. Talk later if you like."

"We'll see," Steve nodded, though he doubted that he would be able to talk with Mordin at great length any time soon, and his bad mood remained with him as he stomped out of the lab and towards the elevator so he could spend some time cooling down in his cabin.

* * *

Around that same time that Steve had been running debriefings and talking with Kelly and Mordin, Carol had actually found herself having a little chat with Miranda about the mission she had accompanied the ship's XO and Steve on. Miranda could not help but thank Carol again for taking the time to help her with her sister, and even made it clear that she could not have been able to reach Oriana in time without the two captains. It seemed a little odd to see Miranda open up like this so much, given what she knew and heard about from the rest of the crew, but given what had happened afterwards when Miranda went to talk with her sister, it actually made sense that Miranda would open up so much like this. More than that, Miranda was happy that she got the chance to meet her little sister, and show Oriana that she actually did have a sister, and someone who was willing to be a good friend to her. When Carol asked if Miranda planned to talk to Oriana again at some point in the future, Miranda admitted that she had not thought that far ahead for once. Carol tried to convince Miranda that she should, but in the end, Miranda insisted on dealing with such things after their mission. It was just too important for her to be distracted and Oriana needed time to adjust to her new home.

Of course, there was also one other reason why Miranda was so willing to talk about what had happened: the death of Niket. Surprisingly, even though she had wanted to kill the man herself before he was gunned down by Enyala, Miranda was actually very grateful to Steve for stopping her before she could. Carol told her to make sure that Steve knew about that, and Miranda did not hesitate to agree to do so, but there was something else in the brunette's tone when she spoke about Niket that caught Carol's attention. Namely, something that indicated Niket was a lot more than just a friend to Miranda, but when she brought the theory up, Miranda instantly denied it. She insisted that Niket was one of the few actual friends she ever had as a child, and that he never wanted anything from her. To be more precise, Miranda had described Niket as safe, comfortable, and as a reminder of a more innocent time, but not as someone she ever would have considered as more than a friend. That opened up an opportunity for Carol to try and tease Miranda about the interactions between her and their super soldier captain, but just as she had started, Miranda had easily shut her down by reminding her that she could still tell Spidey about the information they had learned on that same mission.

Still, even with the blackmail that Miranda had used against her, Carol was happy to hear that Miranda was honestly thankful for everything that she and Steve had done to help Oriana, and she left Miranda's office with a small smile on her face as a result. She was so happy about the talk she had that she had not noticed someone heading into the mess hall right when she was until she ended up running right into them. Just when she was about to apologize though, her happy mood instantly evaporated when she saw just who she had run into, and her smile became replaced with a scowl. "You," Carol snarled at Peter Parker, who was still clad in his armor.

Since his mask was open, Carol was able to see the exasperated eye roll that Peter gave in response as he groaned, "Look, I've had a long day. I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm pretty sure my suit needs some repairs done on it, and I just want to relax and enjoy a simple meal. In simplest terms, I am not in the mood for your idea of Laser Tag, so do you think you can at least _attempt_ to act like you can tolerate me for a little bit?"

Carol would have bit back a snide remark of her own had she not seen the weariness in Peter's face, and immediately powered down the energy that had started to build up in her fists, took a deep breath, and said, "Fine. But don't expect me to be all chummy and willing to talk with you."

"Like I'd really enjoy a conversation with you right now," Peter muttered to himself.

Sadly, it was still loud enough for Carol to hear, and she instantly stopped gathering up some food to glare at Parker. "What was that?"

"Oh don't pretend like you didn't hear me. Who in their right mind would want to have a conversation with someone who has constantly tried to blast them ever since they met up again," Peter snapped back in reply. In all honesty, he did not want to have a conversation like this with Carol, but given how things had been between them since she and the Guardians came aboard, he was starting to reach his limits, so it was no surprise that he would want to start biting back.

"Well maybe if you had actually thought to do what _actual_ friends do when they come back from the dead and let me know you were alive, we wouldn't be having that problem," Carol retorted.

"You know what? I'm not even going to bother trying to explain myself to you this time. Not when I know you won't listen to a damn word I have to say. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised though, considering you never seemed to listen to me before," Peter bit back.

"Oh name one time I didn't listen to you," Carol demanded.

"One word: Venom," Peter instantly responded. "If you had listened to me back then, maybe I wouldn't have had to rescue you after you got bonded to the symbiote in the first place!"

"Well maybe you should've just tried to warn me about it instead of joking around like a damn child," Carol snapped.

"Oh, you want to talk childish? How about we talk about how you get over _Star Wars_ in general, never mind when someone says the smallest thing against it," Peter reminded her.

"Hey, leave that movie series out of this! I don't want to hear something like that from the one geek who hates _Star Wars_ ," Carol warned, menacingly.

Peter was about to retort once again when someone else cut in and said, "Shit, would you two get a fucking room?"

"I'm with you on that, sister," a more gruff voice agreed, and that served as all the alert the two needed to know that they were not alone.

They both then turned to see Jack and Rocket sitting at the table, along with Quill, Garrus, Tali, Kitty, and Drax, each of whom was staring at them in slight apprehension for when Carol decided to switch to a battle of fists and powers over a battle of words. The two Age of Marvels heroes did no such thing though, but instead just sat down at the table, slamming their trays as they did, while making sure that they were sitting a good distance from each other. The others were more than happy to help with that, but some of them were a little hesitant about it, since they did not want to get caught in the crossfire when Spidey and Carol went at it again. Oddly enough, there was nothing but silence in the room afterwards, save for the small sounds of the ship's workings and a passing crew member or two. Though for the team, the silence was not comfortable at all, especially given how Carol and Parker were each throwing glares at each other every few seconds or so, be it when the other was not looking, or when they were.

When the silence finally became too unbearable for him, Garrus took it upon himself to break it and said, "So my contact came through for us, and the _Normandy_ is now outfitted with a new Thanix Cannon installed and ready for action. When we hit the Collectors, we'll definitely be able to hit them hard. Assuming its properly calibrated that is."

"And of course, you're going to be taking care of that, right," Peter playfully groaned.

"Well not just me. Rocket's going to be of some help too," Garrus replied.

"Hey, considering I helped install the thing, I'd be a little insulted if I wasn't involved in at least some of its recalibrations every now and then," the bipedal raccoon sniffed in gruff reply.

"Speaking of involvements, where's your boyfriend made of bark? I thought you two were always together or some other shit," Jack asked.

"Hey, one, Groot ain't my boyfriend," Rocket retorted.

"No offense, Rocket, but considering how often you two are together, it's a little hard to tell at times. At least for anyone who doesn't know you two," Kitty teased.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," Rocket grumbled. "Anyways, Groot's actually over life support with Thane. He likes to stay near areas that are a bit dry now and then. Says it feels soothing to his bark or whatever. Besides, I ain't about to let him near any sensitive equipment. He's about as helpful with most technical work as a krutacking Klyntar."

"A what," Spidey asked.

"A symbiote. I thought you would've known that's what they're really called by now, given that you have been here for months, Parker," Carol snipped in reply.

Before Parker could retort, Quill quickly jumped in and said, "So did anyone else hear this crazy rumor about Miranda having a sister or something? It's all most of the crew can talk about since she, Carol, and Cap got back from their little adventure on Illium."

That quickly calmed down Carol's temper, and she happily replied, "Well, let me put those rumors to bed. Yeah, Miranda has a sister, and thanks to our resident XO, said sister is now safe and sound from the danger she was just in. Cap and I helped out, but you should've seen how Miranda was when we caught up with the Eclipse captain that was leading the charge in that little threat."

"Let me guess: you pretty much tore through all of the Eclipse mercs and left them with nothing to fight or escape with, right," Kitty asked in a playfully dry tone. She was well aware of Carol's history with the merc group, so she would not have been surprised if that was the case.

"For the most part, but it was actually Miranda who dealt the finishing blow to our old friend Enyala," Carol admitted. She then looked around at the final person who had not helped out on any of the _Normandy_ teams' missions and asked, "So we know what Garrus and Rocket were doing while the rest of us were having crazy adventures, but I don't think any of us have yet to hear anything about what you were doing for Doctor T'Soni. Care to share, Tali?"

The quarian of the group seemed to tense up a little, and though they could not see it, they were absolutely sure that she was exchanging a nervous look with Garrus. What none of the others knew was that Liara had made the two of them promise to not tell anyone about how she was hunting the Shadow Broker, especially in the case of their current teammates and Captain America in particular, but they had been so busy worrying about their previous jobs that they had not thought of anything to tell the others when they asked about the matter or anything relating to it. From the look on his face, it was clear that Garrus had not thought of anything either, so Tali was going to have to improvise on the spot, which was not as easy for her to do when she was the center of attention. Sure, she was not as bad as she was a few years ago, but she still had a little bit of her old shyness in her.

After silently taking deep breath, which was a challenge for most quarians, Tali glanced around and said, "It wasn't anything too big. Liara just needed some help getting a hold of some important data for a regular customer that only someone with my level of hacking skills could provide."

While some of the group seemed to buy that, Carol and Parker were able to tell that Tali was not quite being entirely honest with them. All the same, if she wanted to keep it a secret, they were not going to pry. If she wanted to tell them, she would when she decided that she could trust them with this information. With that said, the conversation died down once again, this time into a more comfortable silence, relatively speaking, until Drax decided to break the silence again. "I am surprised to see you eating with us, Jack. I was told that you do not normally venture out of what the crew refers to as the forbidden zone."

Jack had to smirk a little at hearing what her living space was called, glad to hear that the Cerberus crew members were still well-aware of what would happen if they tried to come down into her space, but still was not all that eager to tell Drax the full reason why she was up here with them. "I just needed to get out for a little bit. Even I get a little nervous being in a small, dark space for hours on end."

"Well, that was short and seriously anti-social," Kitty muttered.

"Hey, Princess, I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to help fight the fucking Collectors, so back off. Like I've said before, I'm immune to any help you guys can give me," Jack warned, menacingly. This prompted Quill to move a little closer to his wife, giving Jack a silent threat as to what he would do if she tried anything against Kitty, but some of the others had a better idea on how to handle this situation. Only one of them acted on their idea though.

"What is it with you and not wanting to get close to people, Jack? There's no way that's something that happened just because of Cerberus," Peter asked. He probably could have worded that in a way that was not likely to set Jack off, but that was really the best he could manage.

Surprisingly, Jack did not say anything, but instead, remained silent as she set down her eating utensils, and crossed her arms. "When I was starting out, I ran with this girl Manara and her boyfriend," Jack finally stated. "They knew their way around, and I thought they'd help me. Right. They helped me into their bed, and when we finally did take down something big, they helped themselves to my share of the take. I knew where it was heading, and I got them first. Never bothered with friends after that."

That was not what most of them were expecting. Sure, they knew Jack had a rough history, and they probably should not have been surprised by that little story, but it was the fact that she was opening up enough to tell them this at all that was surprising to the group. Eventually, Drax was the one who replied to Jack's tale and said, "I am not so sure that you were entirely correct in your choice of actions. Yes, they sound like incredibly selfish people, but that's no reason to kill them."

"Said the guy known as 'the Destroyer,'" Jack pointed out, to which Drax shrugged in admittance. "I get feelings. I don't need proof. I did the smart thing. I always do the smart thing if people fuck with me. That's probably something everyone on this ship should remember."

"You know something, I agree with you on that," Rocket admitted, and everyone was surprised by how honest he sounded. "If someone tried to screw me over, I wouldn't hesitate to blast them into the next krutacking galaxy. Unless it's one of the other Guardians. They're the only exceptions."

"Aw, Rocket. We knew you cared," Star-Lord teased.

"Watch it Quill," Rocket warned, though everyone still had to laugh a little at the banter being exchanged between the two friends.

When said laughter died down, Tali then asked, "So aside from Groot, Thane, Miranda, and Samara, does anyone know where the rest of the team is?"

"You mean besides EDI," Spidey asked. When Tali shivered a little in response, he was quickly reminded of how the quarian felt about AIs, given her people's history with the geth, and instantly said, "Sorry."

"Why am I not surprised that you're going and doing something like that, Web-Head," Carol grumbled.

Once again, Spidey was interrupted before he could retort, this time by Drax. "I believe that Gamora said she would be visiting Samara. Captain America is either on the bridge or in his cabin, Mordin is in his lab, Jacob is in the armory working on the weapons, and Grunt is down in the cargo bay that he has made his living space." When the others to throw the destroyer surprised looks at the revelation that he knew these things, Drax explained, "I had asked EDI a moment ago so that I would know what sort of company I would have for this meal."

"Any reason why Gamora is visiting Samara," Garrus asked.

The present Guardians just shrugged as Quill explained, "Sometimes it's not always that easy to get a read on why Gamora does what she does, at least outside of a fight. Even after all these years of working with her, she still finds ways to surprise us."

"So where's Kasumi," Kitty asked, noting that Drax did not mention the master thief.

"Right here," said thief's voice said as she shimmered into the visible spectrum. When everyone jumped in response, she could not help but giggle a little at how she managed to get the drop on all of them, including her kumo-ani. "That never gets old," Kasumi sighed.

"Well how about you at least give us all a warning before nearly killing us with a heart attack," Carol requested.

"I thought you actually had to have a heart that really cares for that to happen," Spidey muttered.

This time, there was no stopping the argument from going, and it even continued on after everyone had finished eating and Garrus offered to start another Poker game. No one was sure how they got from that first topic to what Carol believed Parker thought about her, but considering that the two were not tearing up the ship this time around, they were not complaining that much. Tali was especially happy that was not the case, because there were only so many times she could successfully keep her wall-crawling friend safe from Captain Marvel's wrath before the blonde decided that she did not care what happened if she used her energy blasts in the engine room, repercussions from the quarian be damned. Not that she had a problem with helping out Parker; she did actually feel like she owed him a little bit after all the help he had been in engineering, but she was starting to lose patience with how often he was taking advantage of her help in order to hide from Carol, and she was well aware that the blonde was getting better at trying to keep him from getting to said area of the ship.

* * *

When Steve had finally calmed down enough from the anger he felt due to his conversation with Mordin, he entered the crew deck while Carol and Spidey were still right in the middle of their argument. He probably would not have been too upset or weirded out by it if it were not for the fact that they had been going at it long enough for most of the rest of their original meal companions to have finished and left by then, so naturally, he took it upon himself to interfere and break it up before it reached a point where one of the two ended up saying something to the other that they would later regret. Despite his childish response of saying that Carol had started it, Steve was actually a little glad to see that Peter was not just running away in terror from Carol anymore. He was more surprised that the web-head had taken to retaliating with his own dosage of heated confrontation, seeing as even when they first met, back when Carol really did dislike him, Parker never once acted so harshly towards her as far as Steve knew. It may have been one step forward in some people's opinion, but to everyone else, it was clearly several steps back in patching up the relationship between Carol and Peter.

Aside from that, life on the _Normandy_ continued on as normal as possible for a ship full of such an odd mix of people, and with their new teammates now added to the roster, things became just a little more interesting. Steve actually took some time to visit both Thane and Samara, and he could honestly say that both had left him a bit surprised. When he asked her about the case she was working on when Spidey's team met her, she only told him that she was hunting down a dangerous asari criminal that had fled out of Asari Space. It did explain why she was on Illium in the first place, and from what he could tell, Samara was very desperate to find this individual, given how grave her tone sounded when she spoke of the person in question, but aside from that, Steve was not really able to gain all that much information from her.

Steve decided to let the matter drop for now. This case was clearly a personal for Samara for reasons beyond her duties, and after making sure that Samara's mission would not affect their mission, he decided to turn his attention to a question he had been wondering for some time now. "Could you tell me a little more about the justicars? I've heard a lot of things from others, but I'd like to hear about it from you, if that's all right," the super soldier asked.

"Of course," Samara nodded, dispersing the biotic field she had formed around herself while she had been meditating, no doubt so that she could better focus on the conversation. "I should warn you, I've spent much of the last four hundred years on my own, so I may be rusty when it comes to having a colleague to chat with."

"That's fine," Steve reassured her as he took a seat near where she was meditating. "Just tell me whatever you can about justicars."

Samara took a moment to think it over, but Steve doubted that she really needed it that much. "We are individuals who have foresworn family, children, and worldly possessions aside from some weapons and armor. We travel Asari Space righting wrongs defined by the ancient code we have memorized."

"From what I've heard, your code seems rather strict," Steve noted.

"It may seem so to you, but it is my oath," Samara replied, simply.

The super soldier could only nod in reply to that, and then came around to asking the big question that had been bothering both him and one particular teammate. "When you first met them, you said you had to swear an oath to the team leader so that you would not have to choose between his orders and your code. You compensated for that by swearing it to Spider-Man, yet after we met, you did not do the same for me. Care to explain that?"

"Spider-Man is a noble and valiant warrior who has also abided by his own code of justice since he first appeared on Earth, and he has continued to do so after returning in this time. More importantly, he would follow your orders with little to no question. I believe that given these facts, swearing the oath to him has already allowed me to swear an oath to you. Just be aware, that if you ever do anything that goes against my code, then once our mission is over and I am released from my oath, I will have to kill you," Samara explained.

"Then I guess it's a good thing I'd never ask you to do something like that, and neither would Spidey. He's as honest and just as they come," Steve complimented, silently stating that Samara made a wise choice in swearing her allegiances to them through Spider-Man.

With that matter settled, Steve had gone on to talk with Thane, and ended up passing Gamora on his way out. It seemed that the former assassin had taken up quite an interesting connection with Samara, and it did not look like either one was complaining about it either. The conversation with Thane was actually joined by Drax, surprisingly enough. Like Gamora with Samara, Drax seemed to develop a sort of bond with Thane, though when asked how it had happened, he only said that he sensed that they shared similar pains. Whatever the case was, it did not matter, as Steve was more concerned over the matter of Thane's health than anything else. Oddly enough, Thane did not seem too saddened to be asked about that, but he figured that was mostly due to the fact that he had made it very clear he had already accepted that it would eventually happen. Such an attitude was not very welcoming in any kind of warrior, but given what Gamora had told him about the drell's skills, Steve had a feeling he would not have to worry about how such an attitude would affect Thane too much.

"My illness is not communicable, even to other drell," Thane started out, reassuringly. "It's called Kepral's Syndrome, as I'm sure you have already been told by your teammate."

"Yes, but I'm not really up to speed on everything technology-wise in this new century, never mind what's changed in the way of medicine and diseases," Steve pointed out.

Thane merely gave a dry chuckle in response to that, and then elaborated, "My people are native to an arid world. Most of us now live on Kahje, the hanar homeworld. It's very humid and rains every day. Our lungs can't deal with the moisture, so over time, the tissue loses its ability to absorb oxygen. It becomes harder to breathe. Eventually, we suffocate."

The more he heard about this, the more saddened Steve felt. He was well aware that the hanar allowed the drell to live on their world when they saw that the latter was dying out, but to think that such an act of mercy could lead to a more terrible problem was tragic to put it mildly. Still, that did raise a new question for Steve. "Why not simply live on another world, or use a breather? It seems like either one would help quite a bit," Steve pointed out.

"It is not that simple," Drax informed Steve. "The drell share a close relationship with the hanar to the point where they rely on one another to accomplish things that they cannot do without the other. It is one of the reasons why the hanar train drell to become assassins. Another reason is because when they are not in the water, hanar are incredibly slow and easily defeated in battle."

"So is anyone doing something about it," Steve asked. He was not too surprised that Drax knew all of this. The man was part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and while he may seem like he was always more focused on things like fighting, he did actually know a few things about different alien cultures and societies.

"The hanar have funded a genetic engineering program. They should be able to adapt us, but the project has only been running for a few years. I don't believe my body will still draw breath by the time it bears fruit," Thane replied. "The best my people can do for now is keep our homes very dry inside."

"And you're sure you'll be alright until the end of the mission," Steve asked, wanting to make absolutely sure of that.

"I should be fine for another eight to twelve months. The more time I spend in humid environments, the faster it progresses. I think it's safe to say that by the time my body is incapacitated we'll be victorious. I won't be a burden to you," Thane reassured him.

"You do know that we could also likely perish on this mission, right," Drax asked, wanting to point out that one little fact before the drell got his hopes up.

"Perhaps, but the chances of that are not very likely," Thane replied. "We are being lead by Earth's Captain America, and are teamed with the Guardians of the Galaxy. I doubt that we should exepct to meet failure in this mission, or death unless we choose it."

Steve was flattered to hear that Thane held such confidence in both his and the Guardians' abilities, but he was also a little worried that his confidence might be shared amongst the rest of the crew. Yes, Thane had admitted that he was willing to accept defeat as a likely outcome, but the rest of the crew might not share that belief. Having so many powerful and talented Age of Marvels heroes on board might prove to be problematic if it caused everyone to suddenly become overconfident, and that was more likely to get everyone killed than having everyone even a little nervous. Still, it was definitely better than the moods they were all in after what had happened on Horizon, so if they were starting to seem a little overconfident about things, maybe he was just reading too much into it.

Needless to say, aside from that vote of confidence at the end, Steve's conversation with Thane had left him feeling a little saddened for the drell. It was always disheartening to hear that someone was likely to die very soon, but to see that someone was so readily accepting of the fact that their end was near like Thane made it all the more saddening for some people. True, it did not seem like Thane was entertaining thoughts of taking suicidal actions in order to speed things up, but all the same, to only have a year at the most left to live…it was hard to imagine how anyone else could handle that. To be honest, Steve was not really sure if he could handle that, even with all that he had been through. Then again, considering that their whole mission was practically a suicide mission, it could be argued that Thane might have at least a few thoughts of taking such actions.

Steve was not really too fond of following this train of thought for very long, and given the entire crew was likely feeling a little weary after the last few days, he figured that it was high time that they all did something to relax a little. That was why, once again, the crew was having a friendly little fight club. It actually came as a surprise that Steve really did organize another one of these himself, even if he did promise that they would do it again after the last time, but no one was complaining about it that much. Several different crewmembers were itching to get a few things off their chests, and there were not that many other ways to do so on the ship aside from a simple chat with Kelly or really anyone that they personally trusted. So, once everyone who could attend was present, the fight club began, and Kasumi was quickly taking bets for every single fight that happened, with Rocket joining in the minute he found out.

Surprisingly, the first of these fights to happen was a match between Samara and Jack. Apparently, the justicar had taken note of the former _Purgatory_ inmate's biotic abilities and wanted to test them for herself. Jack was more than happy to oblige, and soon enough, biotic powers of various different forms were flying all across the ship's hangar, forcing many crew to run for different seats or cover many different times to avoid a stray shot. Luckily, Tali called for a time out so that she and Rocket could create a force field around the ring after the fifth or sixth time that had happened (no one was really keeping count to be honest). Given her centuries of experience, Steve was sure that most of the bets would have been on Samara, but when he asked Rocket and Kasumi half way through the fight, he learned that the odds were almost even between the two. True, Samara had far more experience than Jack, but the crazy woman had an advantage in terms of raw power, be it among humans, or even in the cases of some aliens who were able to use biotics. Steve was a bit concerned about how accurate the latter of that belief was, until he saw Samara actually appear to falter a bit in maintaining a defensive field against Jack's assault. From that moment on, it looked like Jack was going to win, but then, just like on Horizon, she hit her limit, and her biotics started to fizzle out.

Realizing that Jack's biotic powers were about to go had two effects. The first of those two was that Jack started to panic a little, as she started to have flashbacks to when it had happened on Horizon, but she seemed to shake herself out of it. The only downside was that she was not fast enough to recover, because Samara had quickly taken advantage of the state Jack had fallen into and immediately began a counterattack. By the end of Samara's assault, there was nothing that Jack could do to come back and pull out a win, so the match ultimately ended in Samara's favor. While the crowd cheered and Kasumi and Rocket started dealing out the money from their collected bets, Samara walked over and offered to help Jack to her feet. Though she did not want to accept such an offer from someone who had beaten her so soundlessly, Jack was not really feeling like she could get up on her own, so she accepted all the same. Still, she did not expect what Samara said next.

"You certainly are as gifted in raw power as the crew claims you to be," Samara complimented. "Though you do lack quite a bit of restraint and discipline. If you'd like, I could teach you how to gain both. You would be even more of a force to be reckoned with if you accept my offer."

Jack was honestly not expecting anything like that. Sure, she had encountered some asari who had offered to teach how to better handle her biotics before, but they were always working an angle so that they got something in return. Samara was obviously not like any of those people mostly because she was a Justicar, and yet she was offering to teach Jack how to better handle her biotics? If it were any other time, Jack would have flat out refused, but after what had happened on Horizon and just now, she could see that she would likely benefit from learning a few new things. Add in the fact that her teacher would be an asari justicar, and how could she really pass up the chance?

She had to think it over for another minute or so though, just because she felt like she had to be absolutely sure that there was no downside to this, but eventually, Jack looked Samara dead in the eye and said, "All right, I'll see what you've got. I want to make sure that I'm ready for any shit thrown at me when we finally go after the Collectors."

Samara nodded in reply to that and then vacated the ring along with Jack so that Thane and Gamora could take their places. That fight was intense and got everyone excited, but in the end, the two agreed that they had to settle for a draw, at least for the moment, and the excitement went away as quickly as it came. Still, it did not prevent anyone from getting both excited and stunned when Spider-Man ended up in the ring in a face-off against Tali of all people. No one would have expected Tali to want to take part in a fight club, let alone to get into a match-up like this, and they were all very curious as to what could have brought this on. Some figured that Tali was just letting off some steam over how Parker was constantly using her and the engine room as a shield/hiding place from Carol, and that she was only going after Parker since she knew that she would not last very long in a fight against Carol. Others figured that Spidey had said something to her that had upset the quarian in some way, mostly in the case of the Guardians and Steve, since they knew that the web-head had a tendency to do that on occasion. Garrus was the only one who had at least a small idea of why his two friends were having this face-off, but he was still confused by the reasoning that Tali had provided when he asked her. All she had said was that she was using this opportunity to test something that she had been working on with Peter, so naturally, the turian was more curious than he was confused.

A moment later, the fight had begun, and Tali and Parker were going at it like crazy. Everyone was honestly stunned with how well the quarian was keeping up with Spider-Man, but everyone who knew the web-head could tell that he was going easy on Tali for some reason. Eventually, Tali raised one of her arms up and fired what looked like a shotgun blast from her wrist, much to everyone's surprise. Spider-Man easily spun away from the blast, but from where it had impacted the shield, everyone could tell that the shot had a lot more power behind it than Tali's usual shotgun had. When she raised her other arm and fired another, similar blast, everyone's shock was instantly amplified. As she continued doing so, while spinning and rolling around the arena in an effort to combat Spidey up close, some of them were starting to see that the shotgun-like blasts were very similar to a blast from Parker's repulsor gauntlets, which magnified their levels of awe to a new height. They were so astonished by this, that they almost missed the fact that Spidey had won the fight by pinning Tali down beneath him as he webbed her up.

Seeing that Tali was down, Steve immediately called the match and then raced over with Garrus so that they could question the two on what they just saw. It was not until they were right next to the two that they finally noticed that the lower arms of Tali's suit were indeed slightly bulkier than they had been before, but that did not stop them from jumping right into the questions that they had for the two. "When did you suddenly decide to weaponize your suit," Garrus asked his old friend, summing up nearly all of the questions that he and Cap had.

"It was actually just a few days ago. Almost a day after we had left Illium to be more exact," Tali admitted with a shrug. "Peter had mentioned to me that he could make a few upgrades to my suit so that it would be a lot more durable, and since we're going to be fighting the Collectors, I thought it might be a good idea. When I asked him if he could help me install something in it that would help me be better in a fight and he said sure, we immediately started brainstorming once he had increased its durability."

"We eventually got around to talking about the various Iron Man armors while we were doing that, and when she heard about some of the features on the War Machine armor, namely the wrist-mounted SMGs, Tali figured we had a winner. The only catch was that she insisted that we change out the SMGs for shotguns, since she preferred to use those in a fight, but since these are of the arc reactor powered variety, I didn't think it would be too much of a problem," Spidey picked up.

"So Tali's suit has an arc reactor in it," Steve asked, analyzing Tali's suit in an attempt to locate the device as he did.

"Yeah, but we made it so that's it's not too noticeable," Tali explained. "To anyone else, it really just looks like it's the buckle on one of my belts. And besides that, it also allows me to use the weapons without drawing power from any of the other, more essential functions of my suit. We didn't really have a chance to test it until now."

"I thought you two were working on perfecting the design for repulsor shields for the ship," Steve pointed out. Last he had heard they were still having trouble figuring out how to work the arc reactor powered devices into the ship in a way that would not cause problems with the drive core.

"Oh that. We finished work with that about a week ago," Peter shrugged. "The solution was shockingly simple, looking back on it."

"Simple from the average person's viewpoint, or simple from a scientist's viewpoint," Steve asked.

"From a scientist's viewpoint and that of a typical quarian engineer actually," Tali admitted.

"In that case, spare me the details. I'm just glad to hear that you've finished working with it," Steve told them.

"Well, it's not entirely finished. Just needs a few little bits of fine tuning to make sure it holds for the entirety of a fight, but that's something that we can work out at any time, so we've been putting a bit more focus into things like adding in some repulsor-based weapons. Nothing too big like the Thanix Cannon, but they would be a decent help in ship-to-ship combat," Tali admitted. "Well that, and the upgrades to my suit. I'm thinking of adding one or two more weapons to it in addition to the shotguns."

"Well, I guess this means we should start calling you War Quarian or something, right," Garrus joked, earning a few laughs from the other three.

"I don't know about that. I'm actually leaning a little more towards the sounds of Iron Quarian," Tali admitted, earning another round of laughs from the four as they left the ring.

The fight that had followed that was another shocker, but mostly due to who one of the combatants was. This match ended up being Captain America versus Miranda, much to everyone's surprise. Sure, Miranda did not always agree with Cap's command decisions, but the crew could have sworn that she had finally gotten over it for the most part, so that made the fact that she decided to call Steve out like this surprising for everyone. Steve had no problem with it though, as he could see a hint of playfulness in Miranda's smirk when she challenged him, and soon enough, the two were exchanging blows with little to no problem. It was definitely a face-off that the entire crew was going to remember for a long time, especially since it did not look like either one of them was going to win any time soon. Just when it looked like one was gaining ground, the other would push back in a way they were not expecting, and it went like that, back and forth, for the entire fight until finally, both the super soldier and the genetically enhanced woman decided to call it tie for now, much like Gamora and Thane had with their match. Sadly, the next fight ended up being the last fight, but it was not without good reason.

The final fight of the night ended up being Grunt versus Groot, and while it may have started out as both a friendly sparring match as well as a way for Grunt to practice with his powers, it did not end that way at all. Almost halfway into the fight, it was obvious to everyone that Grunt was beginning to lose it, but they let it continue since they were sure that Grunt could handle it. That was before Grunt suddenly slammed into Groot and proceeded to literally tear Groot apart limb from limb. When they saw this happen, all of the other Guardians, Captain America, and Spider-Man jumped in to pull Grunt off and snap him back to his senses, only to find that task a lot more difficult than it should have been whether he was a regular Hulk or not. Everyone was relieved to hear that Groot would be okay, and even more glad that this had happened against someone who could regenerate as well as Groot, but it did not change what they had all just seen. The sight of Grunt going off like that was horrifying, but oddly enough, it was even more so for Grunt, who had immediately left the hangar as fast as he could, almost like he was ashamed of what he did.

Seeing that immediately told Steve that they could not put off Grunt's new problems any longer, so he called an end to the fight club for now and went after Grunt while everyone else returned to their normal business. As he was leaving, Spider-Man could not help but grumble under his breath, "This was why I thought a movie night with the crew would be a much better idea."

"And what movie would you suggest viewing? One of the _Star Trek_ 's," Carol asked, having overheard him, though it was not in a friendly way at all.

"Hey, better Star Trek than Star Wars, and if you'll notice, my idea of a good set of movies actually came from a hit TV series, while Star Wars needed how many movies before they got so much as a series of animated shorts," Spider-Man snapped in reply.

"Ugh, there they go again," Jacob moaned.

"I'm actually collecting bets on how this little spat between them finally ends," Rocket admitted. "Odds are actually evenly split. Half the crew thinks Carol's going to completely decimate the web-head, or just throw him out the airlock."

"And what does the other half think," Thane asked, honestly curious about both the argument that was taking place between the two Age of Marvels heroes and the bet.

"That they're going to end up getting locked in a room and just fucking each other's brains out once they've realized their arguing is just covering up the fact they're still in love with one another or something," Rocket admitted.

No one could say a word in response, as upon looking back at the arguing pair, they found themselves divided on what they thought the two were more likely to do when this conflict between them came to a head. At least, when it came to the two scenarios that Rocket had described.

* * *

If it were another situation, Steve probably would have jumped down Grunt's throat for his earlier actions the minute they had reached the Krogan-Hulk's living area in the cargo bay. This was not another situation though, and that fact was only proven by how Grunt was agitatedly pacing around the room, muttering under his breath about what had happened, proving that it was bothering him in more ways than one. Given what Spidey had suggested when he first brought the matter to the captain's attention, about how this might be something related to his krogan heritage and not entirely Hulk related, Steve was willing to hold off on lectures for the moment and let Grunt talk about this in his own time. Eventually, Grunt's pacing came to an end when the Krogan-Hulk let out an anguished roar and started panting wearily afterwards.

"Doing better now, soldier," Steve asked, gaining Grunt's attention.

"No. Not even close," Grunt growled. "Something…is wrong, Rogers. I feel wrong…Tense. It's not like how I feel when my gamma powers flare. It's more like…I just want to kill something with my hands." Steve gave him a look at that last statement, and Grunt could easily tell what the question behind that look was and explained, "More so than usual. Like it's not my choice. Like I just want to…I don't know!" A minute later, Grunt had slammed his forehead against the glass of the cargo bay, cracking it right to the point where a few shards had fallen out of the window and down into the shuttle bay bellow, indicating that there was at least a small amount of gamma strength behind it, but not a great extent of it. Apparently, that was enough for Grunt to finally settle down and get control of himself, because he was able to speak a little more calmly when he rushed back over to where Steve had been watching him. "See? Why do that? Why hurt Groot like that? What's wrong," Grunt demanded.

"I'm…not entirely sure. If it were any other Hulk, I'd say that this was something that was related to your gamma powers, but then again, you are just as much krogan as you are Hulk, so there may be something in your krogan DNA that has something to do with that," Steve admitted, posing Spidey's theory to Grunt as he did.

"That does make sense. This doesn't feel like something from my gamma powers," Grunt agreed. "But that still doesn't answer my question!"

"Okeer didn't imprint anything to tell you what it was," Steve asked. He thought for sure that someone like Okeer would have at least been practical enough to give his creation an idea of anything that could have a negative effect on Grunt, so he had to assume there was at least some indication of an answer from Grunt's creator.

"I see pictures of old battles, voices of warlords, but this is…a blood haze in my head," Grunt explained, crushing all hopes of this being something that Okeer had taught him about. "I want control. When we're moving…fighting, I can focus for the most part…"

"Except when the gamma rage starts kicking in," Steve pointed out.

"Yeah, except then. At those points this blood haze becomes a little stronger, but here, it's different," Grunt admitted. "Here, my blood screams, my plates itch, and even you are just noise. Half Hulk or otherwise, I'm tank born, so I don't know what this is!"

This was definitely affecting Grunt in a lot of different ways, and Steve hated not having any answers as to what was wrong with his teammates. Thankfully, they did have at least one person on the ship who might know something, in a manner of speaking. "EDI, do have anything in your files that could cause this. Maybe some krogan diseases or something," Steve asked the AI.

 **"Cerberus has a number of autopsies on file, but nothing on a living krogan of this age and situation. Krogan are reluctant to share medical records,"** EDI responded, dashing all hopes of that giving them an answer.

"My people were defeated by doctors and labs. They will _never_ let stuff like that leave the homeworld, Tuchanka," Grunt explained.

"Well then, I guess that settles what we have to do," Steve reasoned. "I'll have Joker plot a course to Tuchanka at once. I need everyone at their best, but if we can't find an answer there, I'll have someone look into anything we can dig up on the Hulk side of things, if it helps."

 **"The best place for answers to Hulk-related questions would be on the world that many people refer to as Planet Hulk, Sakaar,"** EDI informed them.

Grunt and Steve both nodded to the ceiling in thanks for that, knowing EDI would see it, and Grunt then turned to his commanding officer and said, "Thank you, Cap. I don't like this. Fury is my choice, not a sickness."

"Don't worry about it too much. We'll have this dealt with and you back to your usual self before you know it. Just try not to do what you did to Groot to anyone else before we get there," Steve cautioned.

"I'll remain here until we arrive on Tuchanka, so you don't have to worry about that," Grunt reassured him, and with that settled, Steve immediately turned and made his way to the bridge, a new destination well in hand, and a new mission set for him and his team. Of course, there was one other thing that he knew would happen when they arrived on Tuchanka, and he could only hope that it would go better than the last time it had happened. After all, if his finally meeting Urdnot Wrex did go badly, it would most likely make his introduction to Liara T'Soni seem like a cakewalk in comparison.

* * *

 ** _AN: You know, I'm with Cap. Spidey does seem to have something about him that attracts asari. I probably could've had Samara swear her oath to Kitty, but something about having her swear it to Spider-Man just made more sense, and as she had said, "her morals are now Spider-Man's morals", so that's gonna be a big help in the long run, most likely. The flashbacks of those missions could likely have been longer, but I wanted to only highlight the important points in those missions, namely the ones involving the interactions that the teams had with their targets for recruitment, so that's why those were the only things that happened._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Hey, I couldn't help but notice you referred to me as Parker quite a bit in this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Well to be fair, there are two Peters on the ship now, so I had to make sure that I was being clear with who was being referred to when, and just calling you Spidey all the time doesn't really feel right, like we're forgetting that you are still under the mask or something._**

 ** _Carol: Not to mention things between me and Spidey seemed to be heating up a little more._**

 ** _AN: Well, the running joke of Spidey running for his life whenever he sees Captain Marvel was obviously not going to last forever, and even he has a breaking point in regards to certain things, as we've seen in the past, so it just made sense that he would eventually start retaliating in some way. I just had him do it in the way that he could best. With his ability to run his mouth off._**

 ** _And then there's Cap's reaction to what Mordin told him regarding his time with the STG. Well how did you think Cap would react to hearing about someone tampering with the genophage in that way, with little problem and be all smiles and okay with it? Nuh-uh! I myself was not too thrilled to hear about it the first time, and while Mordin's reasons did make a certain kind of sense, it still did not make it right. The krogan had been suffering for years because of the genophage, and they were denied a cure for years just because of something that had happened practically a lifetime ago. Thank goodness Shepard was able to help fix that in ME3._**

 ** _Speaking of things that had happened this time around, who else was expecting Grunt's little issue to come up pretty soon, huh? I mean, I did imply that it was coming quite a bit in previous chapters, but I felt that I needed something to really drive the point that they needed to deal with it right away home. The fight club was the perfect solution. And yeah, I had Grunt fight Groot to prove that point. I'm not proud of it, because Groot's awesome. I think everyone can agree on that, but at the same time, he's also the only one who would be able to survive an assault like that from Grunt and recover quickly, so I didn't really have much of a choice. I mean, looking back, I probably could've had Captain Marvel do it, but then again, that likely would have lead to quite a bit of damage to the ship._**

 ** _Tali: Speaking of the fight club, I like what you did with me and my suit there._**

 ** _AN: Thanks. That's actually something that was inspired by a suggestion that was made in a review for one of the previous chapters. Namely, one left by the guest reviewer "Ghostalker". You might remember me answering that review in the chapter that came afterwards, but I just wanted to point out that I was going forward with it, just to be on the safe side. Whether or not I take it any farther than this is still something that you'll all have to wait and see about. And of course, being a practical person, I knew that Tali would never make that kind of modification to her suit without testing it first, so what better way to do so than here, and against someone who's able to dodge bullets?_**

 ** _Garrus: And on that note, I think we should point out how you had the fight between Jack and Samara end._**

 ** _AN: With the latter offering to train up our resident psychotic biotic. Yes, that was actually an idea I got from another story I had read, so just throwing a shout-out to the guy in thanks for that bit of inspiration. Plus, given how things had gone for her on Horizon, it makes sense that Jack would want to do whatever she could to improve so that she would be ready next time. Training under someone like Samara was one of the best ideas that made the most sense to me. I know that Jack probably would've refused at first, but I'd like to think she's been with the team long enough to know that anyone who's on the team is someone that she can at least trust a little bit in some ways._**

 ** _Now then, it looks like we're heading to Tuchanka next, and I hope you all caught that little reference I made there at the end to Planet Hulk. That will be coming up again in the future, though whether that's in this story or it's sequel remains to be seen, so keep your eyes open for that. But more importantly, I think we all know who we can expect to run into when we get to the krogan homeworld, right? In case you need it made clearer, move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The_** **Normandy _Team lands on Tuchanka, and Steve is finally introduced to the final member of Commander Shepard's team, Urdnot Wrex, who is proving to be doing quite well for himself since Garrus and Tali last saw him. The joyful reunion that the three share is not a good feeling that lasts for very long though, as the team finds themselves meeting with quite the challenge in regards to the problems with Grunt, and the problems don't stop there. An old friend from Mordin's past has apparently been captured by one of the krogan clans, and while Cap is not too fond of the salarian scientist at the moment, he's not going to let Mordin deal with this matter alone. So not only do they need to run Grunt through a gauntlet of challenges to get him back to normal, they also need to help save a salarian from likely being killed because a krogan clan has possibly found out about his involvement in Mordin's mission from his time with the STG. Just another day at the office, huh? Discover just what awaits everyone on the krogan homeworld, next time._**

 ** _I think that should clear things up plenty for everyone, and once again, we're doing multiple missions at once. It just makes sense to me that things would unfold like that, so expect me to keep doing that in the future if I can figure out a way to do so. Now, if you all will excuse me, I need to go and figure out a way to get Jack out of the ceiling and prevent her from killing me afterwards. Other than that..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


	14. Tuchanka Tussle

_**AN: Whoo-wee! It's been several months now (almost close to year I'm ashamed to admit), but at long last, after putting so much work and focus into some of my other stories, such as A Spider's Focus, Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys, and my newest crossover Hearts of Avengers (just to name a few), it's finally finished. Capping off the start of 2018 for lyokoMARVELanime studios, it's the newest chapter of Avenging Normandy that's here at last!**_

 _ **[audience roaring applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, I figured you'd all be excited, given how long it's been since I updated this bad boy, but like I said a minute ago, I've got other stories to update, including a new crossover between Kingdom Heart and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (go check that out if you're into either one of those things. Trust me, so far it's pretty good, in my own humble opinion). Add that to the fact I've got other stuff in my life to be concerned with, like my job, my family, the holidays, and a number of other things that I'm not going to list for my own reasons, and frankly, I'm surprised that I was able to get any updates done at all when I did.**_

 _ **Miranda: Wait, what's this?**_

 _ **AN: Hm? [looks to see what Miranda's looking at] OH! Nothing! That's nothing at all!**_

 _ **EDI: I do not believe your personal collection of video games is nothing.**_

 _ **AN: EDI! Shush!**_

 _ **Jack: You're shitting me. You didn't update this thing because you were playing video games?!**_

 _ **AN: Hey, I just said that I was also working on other stories too!**_

 _ **Spider-Man: To be fair Jack, he hasn't updated any of his other stories since Christmas, and since it seems like he got some shiny new games and movies, can you really blame him?**_

 _ **AN:...Okay fine, so that might've had something to do with it. And in fairness, one of those new games was a copy of Final Fantasy X/X-2, and we all know how long it takes just to play through the main story of one of those games, right? Anyway, moving on...**_

 _ **Captain Marvel: With review answers? You do kind of owe everyone a few, especially in the case of this story.**_

 _ **AN: I'm getting to it! Ahem. So, first review to answer today is actually a repeat answer, only to a different person. Namely the guest reviewer "Guest" from Dec 29, 2017. No, Ghost Rider won't be appearing in this story. One big reason being because I don't know if any version of Ghost Rider has ever actually been in space outside of video game story lines like that of "Marvel's Ultimate Alliance". Another big reason being if Ghost Rider did show up, a good number of people on the team would be targets for him. I could list other reasons, but this is a long chapter, and I'd like to answer all the reviews here before we get into things.**_

 _ **Next to our old pal "HaywireEagle", I like the idea of Grunt getting a pet dinosaur from the Savage Land. Somehow I can just see him with his own Devil Dinosaur for some reason, although I don't think they'll be taking that R &R to Earth any time soon since they are still flying a Cerberus ship, and going to Earth would likely mean they would all get arrested, something that they do not need happening before they take down the Collectors. Afterwards, sure, if I were to include something of a small epilogue, but then again, they are going to start off on Earth in the sequel to this story, so that's something to look forward to, even if we all know how little time that will be, given the circumstances. Also, yeah, I do hope to have Parker and Miranda work together at some point in the future, so that Miranda can better understand that there's more to the web-head than the apparently not-so-serious nature he tends to portray. I just have to find a good opportunity to do so.**_

 _ **EDI: Perhaps you would also like to address the question that was posed by "Librarian343"?**_

 _ **AN: Yes, thank you, EDI. For now, I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not Commander Shepard himself will physically appear in this story, as that would actually be a huge spoiler for this story.**_

 _ **Joker: Doesn't saying that already count as a spoiler?**_

 _ **AN: Depends on how you look at it, Joker. Anyways, in regards to that, I'm keeping all those cards close to the chest for now. You'll find out more about this as the story goes on, but it might be a little bit before you get a final answer there, so keep a look-out. But yeah, I can confirm that Shepard does indeed consider Captain America a huge inspiration to him in this story's timeline.**_

 ** _Now, a quick shout-out to our new pal "TheOrangeRobo", glad to hear that you like the story so much, and I hope that I continue to impress and show just how "much of a beat I am" in the coming chapters, starting with this one. Is there anything else before we move on today?_**

 ** _EDI: I believe that there is still one last review you wished to respond to. Namely from "Fido123a"._**

 _ **AN: Ah, right. Glad to see you're so fond of the story, dude, and don't worry, I know exactly how you feel in regards to thinking that there are times a writer will go on a bit of a power trip for series or the other when it comes to crossovers, or just can't integrate the continuities that well. As for your questions, let me start off by saying that I don't have any plans for Black Panther or Wakanda just yet. Frankly, I did not really consider either one that much if at all when I was doing most of the planning for this story since, like you said, the two on their own do tend to be a side concern due to their nature of being isolationists, and the fact that the movie only is only just recently due to come out. Though I do hope that I can find some way to integrate at least T'Challa's descendant into the story or at least this story series at some point in its future.**_

 _ **Moving onto the matter you brought up regarding the influence that certain Marvel media has on this story. Yes, I will admit that much of it does in fact come from the MCU, but I am trying my best to have a good deal of it be a balance between that and the mainstream continuity of the comics, as some of you may have noticed through various aspects like the marriage of Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde, or how Spidey got into this time due to the actions Octavius took in the Superior Spider-Man series (urgh). I've mainly been vague in regards to beings like Thanos and the Phoenix force because I didn't want such beings to try and take an even stand or possibly even surpass the biggest threat in the Mass Effect series: the Reapers, because frankly, part of me kind of thinks that either one of those things, or even beings like Galactus and The Beyonder could in fact make them seem a little insignificant in comparison when you consider several different factors.**_

 _ **Finally, in regards to Deadpool (urgh again. I know he's your favorite character, so I mean no disrespect on what you like. I'm just stating my own opinion here). His inclusion, at this time and most likely for the near future, is not very likely, but he will receive various references that prove he is in fact still around, and has a reputation for being the most annoying/irritating person in the universe. I will admit that he is indeed dangerous and/or scary when he drops his comedic nature, but considering he has that nature about 90% of the time when he shows up...Yeah, I think you can see where I'm going with that. Anyways, hope you continue to enjoy the story as it continues, and you find some of my other works just as enjoyable.**_

 _ **Well, I believe that's that. So, after so long a time, I think it's long past due for us to get underway. Joker, we all set?**_

 _ **Joker: You kidding? I've been itching for this for months! We're ready for everything.**_

 _ **AN: Well don't go saying things like that. It'll make you sound a way too cocky. Either way, Plot a course to the chapter!**_

 ** _I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or Mass Effect franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story_**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Tuchanka Tussle**

Joker was more than happy to set a course for Tuchanka after hearing it was for the purpose of helping Grunt, especially since the whole ship had now heard about what had happened in the fight club during his match with Groot, but it was still going to take a few hours before the _Normandy_ reached the krogan homeworld, and that was without accounting for the fact they would need to traverse a Mass Relay or two before getting into the right galaxy. Still, it did give everyone time to prepare themselves for when they did arrive, and it allowed everyone to take a few last moments to cool off a little while they got ready for their arrival. Well, everyone other than Spidey and Carol, who were still going at it like no tomorrow every time they met up with each other, and when they were not arguing, they were definitely throwing glares at each other. Seeing this development between the two honestly made Steve a little worried, almost as much as he did whenever Jack and Miranda were in a room together, especially since Jack's recent venture up from the Forbidden Zone seemed to indicate that she had found something in her reading that left her very displeased, but right now was not the time to deal with either of those situations. Right now, he needed to focus on helping Grunt with whatever was ailing the Krogan-Hulk, and he was determined to do whatever he could to help his teammate with that.

At least, that was the only plan he had running through his mind while he studied the Galaxy Map until Kelly informed him that Mordin wanted to talk to him about something that sounded urgent. After his last conversation with the salarian scientist, Steve was not too eager to speak with Mordin again, thinking he might blow up on said scientist if the wrong thing was said, so he told Kelly to let Mordin know that it would have to wait for now. That did not go the way he had hoped, because Kelly quickly informed him that Mordin was insisting that it was important, and that the salarian had also said he wanted to talk to Cap before they reached Tuchanka. Hearing that last part was what did it for Steve, and since they still had a few more hours to spare, he decided to just bite the bullet and see what it was that Mordin wanted.

The minute he entered the lab, Steve could tell that whatever it was that Mordin wanted to talk to him about was weighing pretty heavily on the salarian's mind, as the professor was pacing around his workspace quite a bit, and it looked as though he could not sit still at all. Well, more so than usual anyway. Mordin was so frantic that he did not even need Steve to announce his arrival this time, because he seemed to jump a little when he heard the door open, signaling that someone had just entered the room. He seemed to relax a little more when he saw it was Steve, but that did not stop him from talking in his usual rapid pace. "Rogers, important news. Know you're busy; have to deal with the Collectors, planning attack. Too important to wait! Just receiving data, still processing, analyzing likely scenarios. Not sure how to begin, too much intel."

"Mordin, calm down. Just take a deep breath and start from the top," Steve told the salarian, any thoughts or concerns about how a conversation with the scientist would go after their last talk flying out the window when he heard the urgency in Mordin's voice.

Mordin did as instructed, and then resumed his earlier explanation in a much calmer manner than before. "You remember our talk earlier, work on genophage modification," he asked, instantly pulling Steve's concerns back in a little when he did. When the super soldier said nothing though, Mordin took his silence as confirmation and pressed on. "Suppose you would also recall that I was part of a team."

"Yeah, you mentioned that it was made up of several different types of scientists," Steve recalled as he crossed his arms, feeling that he should get a little more comfortable somehow while silently telling Mordin to hurry to the point.

The professor seemed to get the silent message, because he most certainly got right to what he was leading into after seeing that. "Blood Pack mercenaries captured former team member, Maelon. Last seen on Tuchanka. Might…torture him, make an example. Recovering Maelon would be a personal favor to me."

It seemed that Steve's attitude towards Mordin was changing as rapidly as the professor's pace of speaking, because he was now once again far more concerned about the matter at hand than he was about their last conversation and how it would affect their interactions. "Is it possible that they found out about your team's mission, or that Maelon was involved in it?"

"Unclear. No way to determine until we get to Tuchanka, hence reason for wanting to speak with you before our arrival at krogan homeworld," Mordin stated. "Know that feelings for me are not likely very grand at the moment, but hoping to put it aside for sake of Maelon. Was my assistant, my student. Want to see safe."

Steve knew quite well what that felt like, given his history with his old partner Bucky, both before and after he became the Winter Soldier, as well as some of the times when he and Falcon had worked together as partners, so hearing how concerned Mordin was about the safety of his old student made his decision easy. "All right then. We'll try and look for him when we get to Tuchanka."

"Appreciate that," Mordin nodded in thanks. "Maelon last seen outside of Urdnot territory. Scouts might have seen Blood Pack. Talk to them or clan chief."

"Somehow I get the feeling a meeting with the chief of Clan Urdnot was going to happen either way," Steve informed the professor, and he then turned to leave, making a mental note to inform the team later on about this new addition to their mission on Tuchanka, while also resuming what he was doing before Kelly told him about Mordin's request: deciding who would be going down to the krogan homeworld with him.

* * *

"I am Groot! I am Groot! I AM GROOT," was rapidly shouted in protest by said Guardian of the Galaxy as the entire team gathered in the shuttle bay preparing to depart from the _Normandy_ to Tuchanka.

"Yeah, sorry Cap, but Groot ain't going nowhere near the krogans' turf, and considering what happened the last time we were there, you can't blame him either," Rocket informed the CO of the ship, while also inadvertently giving a translation for everyone who did not understand.

"What do mean? What happened last time," Garrus asked.

"We found out that Groot's species doesn't mix very well with the environmental conditions of Tuchanka," Quill replied. "It may not be a big deal for us, but that place is still radioactive enough for Groot to eat away at him faster than a massive swarm of termites at a wood convention."

"I am Groot!"

"Sorry. That was definitely a bad analogy," Star-Lord instantly apologized.

"Ya think," Spidey and Carol asked in unison. When they realized they had done so, they were quickly glaring at each other once more, getting a serious of exasperated sighs and rolls from everyone else in response, while Steve just coughed to get their attention back on track.

Once he was sure he had the full attention of everyone in the room, Captain America informed everyone, "I had a feeling that Tuchanka wouldn't be a great fit for Groot, so I was already planning on having him stay behind along with Rocket, Miranda, and Jacob. The rest of you will be with me, so if you need to grab anything else before we head down there, now's the time to do so."

"Yes sir," everyone responded.

Steve nodded to the group at large before looking to the ship's XO. "Miranda, I'll be leaving you and Jacob in charge of the ship until we get back. If anything happens, I want you to contact me ASAP."

"Understood Captain," Miranda nodded in reply, and with that, the two Cerberus operatives, Rocket, and Groot all left the hangar, while everyone else did one last check of their gear before boarding the shuttle with Steve.

Not long after that, the team had disembarked for the shuttle trip down to Tuchanka, and once they had gotten close enough to the ground, anyone who was not familiar with the world or was just not from this timeline found themselves gasping in shock at what they saw. Rumble and craters seemed to litter the ground like mud and flies in a swamp, and the powerful winds seemed to carry a vast abundance of dust and ash that could likely choke someone if they were not careful. There did not seem to be any vegetation of any kind from what most of them could see, and what little they did see did not appear to be anything short of carnivorous. In short, it looked a lot like a world that could be compared to a post-nuclear apocalypse Earth. Seeing all of this left Steve and Spider-Man both gaping in horror at the sights below them, and made them both wonder the same thing.

"What happened here? Were the krogans attacked recently or something," Spider-Man finally asked for them both.

"Krogans get attacked almost all the time, Spidey, but this isn't because of that. Tuchanka has been like this for centuries, even before the Citadel races made first contact," Carol revealed. Even though her tone still carried an edge while she addressed him, you could still tell that it had softened a great deal despite that as she looked over the planet they were flying over. "After the krogan discovered atomic power, they immediately started using it for the one thing that krogans are best at: battle. This is the end result of intraplanetary wars followed by a nuclear winter. Most of their original industrial base has been destroyed, and it remained that way until the salarians made first contact and uplifted them. Sure, it was mainly to fight the rachni, and it eventually led to the Krogan Rebellions, but it did have some benefits to their society like giving them the tools they would need to construct underground shelters to protect themselves from the surface areas with harsher levels of radiation, or even a variety of other uses like repairing necessary vehicles and weapons that would come in handy for other purposes."

"Still, it's hard to believe that the Council is just letting them live like this," Steve argued, honestly feeling more disgusted with the ruling body of Citadel space.

"The council is not forcing the krogan to live like this, Steve. Most of them are still living here voluntarily," Gamora revealed.

"Why?"

"Probably so they could try to outlive the genophage or simply because this is their home and they don't want to change that," Quill offered. "Either way, we shouldn't have to worry too much. Most of the radiation has passed by this point, so long as you avoid going into certain areas without some variety of armor or suit to keep you safe, or if you're not like Groot. First time the Guardians came here was also the first time we had to have Groot wear a space suit himself."

"Yeah, that was a bit of a nightmare for both us and the poor guy," Kitty nodded in remembrance, while Drax, Gamora, and Carol let out small, involuntary shivers at the memory.

The trip down memory lane came to an end with the shuttle pilot announced that they were approaching their landing zone, and a few minutes later, everyone felt the small shutter that indicated they had touched down, and got up from their seats just as the doors were opening. Stepping out onto the landing pad allowed them to see that they had landed inside of one of the underground shelters that had been previously mentioned, and from what Steve remembered from EDI, they should likely have landed inside of the camp of Clan Urdnot, which was said to be neutral ground on the krogan homeworld according to the recent reports. The arrival of a trio of krogan guards probably helped to reinforce that point, albeit only slightly, but somehow, Steve did not feel like they were very welcome here at the moment. Though that was probably due to the looks that the guards were giving Mordin and Grunt as they approached.

It seemed that the guards were going to be serving as the welcoming committee as well, since they were already marching up to the team even before they had climbed down the last stair leading up to the landing pad. Steve was about to give a polite greeting to the group, but the leading krogan was already growling at him before he could get so much as one word in. "Take whatever business you have to the clan leader, alien, and keep your rutting pet on a short leash. Get him the rite soon, or put him down."

While he was very displeased with the krogan's words, the latter statement definitely caught Cap's attention, and he had to press on it while he could. "You know what's wrong with Grunt?"

"There's nothing wrong with him," the krogan waved off.

"Yeah, I can think of a few ways to argue with that statement," Jack muttered, praying that Grunt did not overhear her.

Grunt may not have, but the other krogan did, and he was soon glaring a little at the former convict before returning his attention to Captain America again. "Just go speak to the clan leader. Talk to him soon, because if we decide you're not welcome, you'll know just before we kill you."

"Just before you try to kill us," Captain America cautioned, his hand already reaching to pull his shield forward for action as a silent warning.

The super soldier and the krogan were soon staring each other down with equal glares, and some were beginning to think that the two would start fighting right then and there until Garrus stepped in and said, "Well, we'd best not keep the clan leader waiting, so we'll just get going now." He then started forward, with Tali falling in step right beside him, both pushing Steve along in the hopes that he would understand that now was not the time or the place to be antagonizing a krogan. Sure, Captain America could probably take those guys, but they did not want to find out for sure at the risk of getting attacked by every krogan on Tuchanka.

The others just shrugged to one another and followed after the two, with Cap soon relaxing his battle-ready sense once again and calmly marching forward in short time, only this time, he was flanked by both members of the original _Normandy_ team. They all took little note of the tunnel they were walking down in order to reach the main camp where they assumed the clan leader would be, mostly because it looked much like the rest of the krogan homeworld in their eyes, but some of them did make sure to note the surrounding area just for the sake of having some type of landmark to go by on the off chance that they did get lost. Either way, no one was too startled when they all picked up an incoming message from EDI.

 ** _"Urdnot clan reports use weak encryption. I see references to a captured salarian in the logs of the chief scout,"_** the AI informed them.

"Looks like your hunch about the scouts knowing something was right, Mordin," Steve informed the professor, but that did not seem to do much good in helping the salarian relax.

That was a small note, as Gamora had to ask, "Did you find anything in regards to what might be wrong with Grunt?"

 ** _"I am afraid not. While the encryption is weak, I have been unable to access local medical records. I suggest asking the local clan leader for assistance,"_** EDI replied.

"Well, we were going to have to talk to him anyway, so might as well do so while we're at it," Garrus shrugged.

Just as they came out of the tunnel, Kitty noticed that Grunt was looking around much more than the rest of them, and at first she figured that he was taking in the fact that he was finally on the homeworld of his people. That was before she noticed how he had a small look of either disdain or disgust on his face, and she could not help but feel a little concerned at that. "Hey, are you okay, Grunt? Aside from the obvious, I mean," Kitty asked.

Grunt did not answer right away, but eventually, he did let out a low growl when he said, "This is the great krogan homeworld? This is the land of Kredak, Shiagur, and Veeoll? This chunk of rock is barely worth standing on!" He then let out a sad sounding sigh as he said, "Never thought I'd miss the tank."

Kitty would probably have not believed that Grunt would think that way if she had not been aware of how Grunt came into being. "It may not be that impressive now, but give it a little time. Maybe it'll get better, and besides, you can always help to rebuild it later if you feel like doing so."

"Assuming we survive our mission to take down the Collectors, you mean," Grunt pointed out.

Kitty just smirked at that before she reminded him, "Hey, we'll make it. Don't forget who's on this team, or who's leading it."

Grunt grinned a little at that thought, and the two quickly jogged over to meet up with the rest of the team, who were just preparing to climb up to where the clan leader was sitting. At least they had been until they were stopped by another set of guards. "Halt! You must wait till the clan leader summons you. He is…in talks," the lead guard informed them, while casting a wary glance up to where said leader was sitting.

"Is something the matter," Carol asked.

The guard looked a little uncomfortable sharing such information with aliens, but after a moment, he replied, "It was supposed to be just a peaceful meeting between the clan leader and the representative of Sakaar, but another of the clan leaders felt it necessary to cut in so that he could complain once again."

"Again," Star-Lord asked, already getting a vibe from the visiting clan leader just from that sentence alone, and not the good kind either.

"The leader of Clan Gatatog is always complaining about the clan leader's plans," the guard sighed, tiredly, confirming Quill's suspicions.

"Why am I not surprised? Even on another planet, there's always at least someone who finds something to complain about," Spidey muttered under his breath, not knowing that Carol had heard him and was actually nodding in agreement with him instead of glaring at him. A minute later though, another thing that the guard had mentioned finally registered in his mind, and he quickly said, "Hold on. Isn't Sakaar also known as…"

"GARRUS! TALI," a booming voice suddenly roared, and they all looked up to see a large krogan in silver armor with a red crest on his head and blood red eyes coming down from the chair where they all assumed the clan leader sat towards them with a large grin on his face.

"I'd say that counts as a summons, wouldn't you," Garrus asked, rhetorically, and they all began to approach without another word. Not everyone was allowed up though, since there was only so much room up on the dais, so it ended up being only Garrus, Tali, Steve, Spidey, Grunt, and Carol who had gone up, while the others remained down below.

When they met the krogan who had called out to them midway, he just kept grinning with a laugh as he clasped hands with Garrus, and said, "Garrus! My friend! You've gotten even uglier than I remember you being."

Since there was no ill-intent in his tone, Garrus knew that the krogan had not really meant that insult, and he also knew that said krogan was referring to the scar he now wore on one side of his face, so he soon replied, "Well what can I say? Couldn't let you be the ugliest person on the old team forever, Wrex, but I think I might still have some catching up to do before I reach your level of disgust."

"Ha! You wish you could look as good as me," Wrex boasted, and the two were soon just sharing a contagious laugh between them while patting each other's shoulder.

"Even after all these years apart, it looks like you two are still never going to stop messing with each other. You know, if you're not careful, someone might think you're flirting," Tali playfully teased, getting the two's attention.

"Tali," Wrex cheered, instantly scooping the smaller quarian up into a tight bear hug after he turned his attention off of Garrus. "How's my favorite little quarian?"

"Not so little anymore, for one thing, Wrex, and likely going to deal with a suit breach if you hug me any tighter," Tali giggled in playful caution.

Wrex laughed as he set Tali down, and asked, "Still remember that fast-reloading trick I showed you for the shotgun?"

"Of course. I've taken care of myself pretty well these past few years, and that trick in particular has come in pretty handy a couple of times," Tali replied proudly.

"Ah, look at you, all grown up. Almost makes me cry tears of joy. Heh, almost," Wrex teased.

"You seem like you're doing pretty well yourself, Wrex. Glad you and Shepard didn't have to kill each other on Virmire," Garrus noted.

"Whoa, what?! What did I miss," Spider-Man asked. He did not remember Garrus ever telling him that part whenever they talked about the turian's adventures with his old crew.

The web-head's question went mostly ignored, save for an odd look or two that he received from Wrex, most likely due to the appearance of his armor. Wrex shook his bewilderment off quickly though, barked out a quick laugh, and revealed, "Shepard actually made the rise of Urdnot possible. Virmire was a turning point for the krogan, though not everyone was happy about it." No one missed how Wrex had thrown a small look in the direction of another krogan who had just joined them, this one wearing silver and sky-blue armor with a green crest on his head, and they quickly figured that this was the Gatatog clan leader the guard was telling them about. "Destroying Saren's genophage cure freed us from his manipulations," Wrex continued on. "I used that to spur the clans to unify under Urdnot."

"You abandon many traditions to get your way. Dangerous," the green-crested krogan grumbled loudly.

Wrex did not like that interruption, and immediately head-butted the offender hard enough to nearly knock him down. "Speak when spoken to, Uvenk. I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not," Wrex growled in warning. His expression then became a little more somber when he turned to return to his throne while casting a sad look at his old friends and saying, "I was sad to hear about Shepard and the _Normandy_. The galaxy lost a good ship that day, and a great man."

"Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more on that," Garrus nodded, while Tali hung her head in sad remembrance. They both quickly perked up though as the former then added, "But on the bright side, we're now working on a new _Normandy_ to get back at the bastards that killed Shepard, and the new CO definitely has his own way of being just as good if not better than the commander was." He then waved Steve forward and said, "Urdnot Wrex, this is Captain Steve Rogers, CO of the _Normandy SR2_ , and better known as Captain America."

Wrex locked his gaze on Steve while standing before his throne, studying the super soldier, and for a minute, Cap thought he would be getting a similar reception to the one he received from Liara, until Wrex grinned and said, "I've read a lot of human history about you, Captain America. They say you faced down the likes of Galactus and Thanos, and won. You've definitely got a quad on you."

"Well I didn't do either of those alone. I had a good team backing me, just like I do now," Steve admitted.

"Ha, and you're just as modest as they say you were. If you're really commanding the new _Normandy_ , then whoever brought you back knew what they were doing. You're the only one I can think of who could lead that ship better than Shepard," Wrex noted, finally sitting down on his throne again. Wrex was about to ask what brought this little group here, when he was interrupted once more, only this time, he had no problems with the person who did.

"Rogers! I never thought I'd see a real soldier like you again," came the excited cheer of a very familiar, red giant that everyone from the Age of Marvels easily recognized, despite his graying hair and change of attire. He still wore a pair of black pants, but now, he also sported a tan shirt over his torso, along with a large coat that almost seemed like the duster that they remembered Nick Fury often wearing. Either way, there was only one person that this guy could be, and they also remembered him not being so openly affectionate with others as he was being right now as he scooped Cap up into a bear hug of his own.

"No way. Red Hulk," Spider-Man gasped in surprise.

"Good to see you too, General Ross," Steve grunted, feeling as though he could have sworn his bones were breaking under the hug he was getting. There was only one thing that came close to being as dangerous as a Hulk smash, and that was a Hulk bear hug.

"It'd better be more than good. Things have been nothing but boring the past few decades," Red Hulk grinned once he finally set Cap down. "I mean, Sakaar is great and all, couldn't ask for a better place for Hulks to call home, but it does get a little tame after a while, even with sparring matches with Green, Shulkie, Jones, and the kid. Even with Logan, things are still way too dull for my liking, so of course I'm glad to have a real fellow soldier back after so long."

"Hey, what about me and the Guardians? Don't any of us count," Carol teased.

"You wish. You guys are barely around enough to really count that much, Princess Sparkle-Fist," Red Hulk retorted, even though his grin never faltered at all.

Spider-Man could not stop himself from snorting in amusement when he heard that. "Princess Sparkle-Fist?"

Carol immediately groaned in response while muttering, "Red, why did you have to use that name while _he's_ right there?"

Spidey just grinned beneath his helmet. He was never letting Carol live that down, but he immediately tensed when he noticed that Red Hulk was studying him with a critical eye. "So what? You supposed to be the new web-head or something, because there's no way anyone could take the kid's place in a million years."

"Aw, you missed me, too? I knew you really cared, Red," Spidey quipped when he heard that, surprising the red gamma giant a little.

When she saw Red Hulk's confused look, Carol just sighed in irritation and said, "As hard as it may be to believe, Red, that unfortunately, is the original Spider-Man himself, brought from the past to save the galaxy again."

"The only one that really seems to bother aside from the bad guys is you, Princess," Spider-Man immediately stated, already showing that he was not going to let Carol live down that nickname, much to her annoyance.

That last bit of quipping was all that Ross needed to confirm once and for all that this was indeed Spider-Man, and he was soon grinning again as he grabbed Spider-Man in a bear hug as well, much to Spidey's groaning dismay and Carol's amused pleasure. "Hey Wrex, next time we get together for a Poker night, be sure to invite this kid along. Oh, and just to be clear, he sits next to me," Red Hulk informed the krogan leader.

Before the two could get much further than that, Steve finally asked the question he and Parker had both been wondering since they saw Ross. "How did you go from hardened military general/blazing Hulk to being a diplomat, Red?"

"Ah, I'm not a full-time diplomat. I just act as one for any negotiations between Sakaar and Tuchanka while occasionally filling in for Shulkie everywhere else when we have no other options. Apparently, they like me a lot better since I had proven my worth as a warrior to them on one of my first visits here," Red Hulk admitted.

"Somehow, that actually makes a lot of sense," Spider-Man nodded while rolling his shoulders in an attempt to get some feeling back into his arms now that he was freed from Ross' hug.

"Well, as lovely as this reunion is, I get the feeling none of you are here for a social visit, so what can Clan Urdnot do for all of you," Wrex asked.

"How about we start by asking what exactly it is you're doing here? From what I've heard, you don't exactly strike me as the type to step away from the battlefield easily," Steve requested, figuring that a little more small talk would not hurt before they got right down to business.

"Well after all the good times on the _Normandy_ , I decided to come back and start caring about my people and world again. The first step is actually happening right now," Wrex explained. "We're making a neutral ground where all clans are welcome. Fertile females can be shared among clans, and most importantly, we will strengthen the race as a whole."

"You threaten everything that makes us strong. It will not last," Uvenk huffed in distaste.

Apparently, Uvenk was not the only one with a bit of distaste, but not for the same reasons, because Wrex was immediately glaring at the other krogan once again before saying, "Maybe, but until then, you're lucky to be a part of it. Now keep silent, or did you need another reminder about what I was saying earlier."

Uvenk immediately shut up at that, but the team figured that it was only temporarily. Peter especially, since he felt like this guy could probably be a krogan version of Jameson, at least in regards to Wrex's plans for his people. Steve on the other hand, put it aside for the moment, thinking that it was not something they should be too concerned with right now, because he was a bit more curious about something else in regards to Wrex's ambition. "From what I've seen, even a krogan can have a hard time keeping another one under control, so I can't imagine maintaining security is easy when you have so many in one place."

"Well, maybe not, but we have a few rules that have been made very clear to the other clans to help with that," Wrex informed him. "Any clan willing to send in hostages can come in. No fighting inside the camp. Each clan punishes its own criminals. We stop conflicts before anyone dies, then we present a simple choice: pay a fine and deal with your problems, or your clan is no longer welcome."

"That doesn't sound very harsh by krogan standards," Garrus noted.

"Maybe, but allies from other clans like what I'm doing, so they help deal with skeptics. Many are eager for an outlet, so every time I've declared unwelcome, my allies have destroyed them. Word gets around."

"Well it certainly sounds ambitious. Has it been going well so far," Tali asked, now feeling a little curious herself.

Wrex groaned a little as he answered, "Better than I feared, but worse than I hoped."

"It can't continue. You are going against what makes us strong," Uvenk insisted, giving voice to his arguments without request once again.

"Well you seem to be really popular with this movement of yours," Spidey remarked in sarcasm.

"Traditionalists like Uvenk are chained varren. Always fighting, guarding their pathetic stick in the ground, but when the smoke clears, I can plant the flag on their corpses and rally the rest around a new krogan hub," Wrex promised, making sure to throw in a little jab at Uvenk as retaliation for his insulting attitude.

"So you're expecting bloodshed then," Steve asked.

"Well, it'll be slow, but I won't change what we are. Krogan are judged by the strength of our enemies. Our worst insult is to say someone's not worth killing," Wrex informed him.

"Note to self: refrain from bringing up 'no-killing' rule around anyone on this planet," Spider-Man muttered under his breath.

"It'll work out for him. After all, ever since Sakaar first started having regular meetings with the krogan of Tuchanka, we've found Wrex's ideas to be the most worth backing," Red Hulk insisted. "If anyone does have a problem with him, you can bet that we'll be coming ready to start smashing."

Steve was about to start up a conversation with Red Hulk to see what had been going on for him and every other Hulk since he had gone to sleep again, when Carol interrupted. "Not that I'm opposed to catching up with old friends and getting well-informed on the matters of a planet or anything, but maybe we should get down to the matter at hand?"

"You should remember that we don't often allow aliens to do business on Tuchanka, Captain Marvel. Be glad that you, your fellow Guardians, and your new friends are all exceptions, both because two of them are old friends of mine, and some of them are old friends of Red Hulk's," Wrex cautioned, though it was with a friendly tone to show he meant what he said about the team being considered friends.

Seeing as they were getting right to the heart of things, Steve jumped right into business as Carol suggested and decided to start with the matter that had made Mordin's journey to Tuchanka so important. "We're looking for a salarian that was captured by the Blood Pack and brought here."

"My scout commander can direct you. If anyone had seen something about that, it would be him. He's probably near the perimeter running target practice," Wrex nodded. He then gave them a small look as he cautioned, "Don't take too much of his time. I need a constant watch on the other clans."

Steve nodded in consent of that before waving the team's resident krogan forward while informing Wrex of the original reason why they came here. "I was also hoping you could help us with something else. I have a krogan on my team that seems to have come down with something, and he needs treatment."

Wrex stared long and hard at Grunt, while the Krogan-Hulk just stared back, his gaze unwavering and showing courage despite the standing that Wrex held in this place. While his gaze was challenging, it was not to the point of being defiant, and Wrex seemed to sense that almost immediately, along with something else. "Where are you from, whelp," Wrex finally asked, not even bothering to comment on Grunt's appearance, indicating it held no importance to him. "Was your clan destroyed before you could learn what is expected of you?"

"I have no clan," Grunt answered in full honesty, paying little mind to Uvenk when the traditionalist started circling him, eyeing with disdain in his eyes that only grew as Grunt continued to speak. "I was tank-bred by Warlord Okeer, my line distilled from Kredak, Moro, Shiagur…"

"You recite warlords, but you are the offspring of a syringe," Uvenk snarled, shoving him a little before he stepped away, and earning him a glare from Grunt's teammates as a result.

"I am pure krogan. You should be in awe," Grunt affirmed, barely paying any mind to Uvenk's words or actions.

"It takes a lot more than just a bit of genetics to pure anything, runt," Red Hulk advised, and unlike Uvenk, he did earn a reaction from Grunt in the form of a small growl.

Wrex on the other hand was taking note of something else. "Okeer is a very old name. A very hated name," he eventually mused aloud before standing up and moving down to get a closer look at Grunt.

"He is dead," Grunt revealed just as Wrex had gotten into arm's reach of him.

"Of course. You're with Garrus, Tali, and the rest of these guys. How could he be alive," Wrex pointed out.

"Uh, should we point out that we didn't technically kill Okeer," Spider-Man asked.

"Not unless it's actually important to any of this conversation," Garrus replied.

"So I take it you know what's wrong with Grunt? We need him back to his usual self before we can risk taking him on any other missions, never mind our main priority mission," Captain America interrupted.

"You say that like it would be terrible to bring him on any mission at all," Red Hulk commented.

"Well considering he's packing more than just your basic level krogan power, that might actually be very accurate," Tali commented.

"And how's that," Red Hulk asked, now feeling a bit curious, showing that it had probably been a long time since he had a good fight. He proved it further by moving to stand before Grunt himself while gazing down at the tank-bred krogan with disinterest, until he finally said, "Sure, he may look a little different, but he doesn't seem like anything special beyond that."

"I'm plenty more special than some old man who's past his prime and playing at being the strongest," Grunt snarled in retort.

"You want to run that by me again, Runt," Red Hulk demanded, his own temper starting to flare, but thankfully, not to the point where he would start literally flaring up.

"Sure. I wouldn't be surprised if you were going deaf in your old age, so it wouldn't be surprising that you're hearing would be as weak as the rest of you," Grunt grinned, almost savagely. No one noticed how Spider-Man slapped his forehead after that comment, or really paid much mind when he muttered something about a time and place to be a smart-mouth like he had taught the Krogan-Hulk to be.

It definitely earned a reaction out of Red Hulk though, as he was soon throwing a punch at Grunt with almost all of his strength. He was not quite to the point where he would just smash with no restraint at all, but his swing was still packing a great deal of power behind it, so he ended up being very shocked when Grunt not only caught his fist in one hand, but did not even flinch afterwards either. The surprises did not end there for Ross, because a second later, he could feel Grunt tightening his grip on Red Hulk's massive hand, right to the point where it was actually starting to feel a little painful for Ross, a feat that very few outside of another Hulk could accomplish. Even through that pain though, Red Hulk quickly took note of how Grunt's eyes seemed to flare with green fire that he had only seen in one other person, and he could have sworn that he saw Grunt get a little bigger at the same time, too.

While Red Hulk was taking all of this in though, the others were instantly starting to shout for Grunt to stop before something bad happened, but it did not look like Grunt could hear them at the moment, his mind clearly being clouded in a haze of gamma rage, blood haze, or even both. After getting no reaction after the first few shouts, Spider-Man reacted on instinct and charged over to try and pull Grunt off, only to be batted aside by Grunt's free arm for his efforts. While Captain Marvel was instantly to Parker's side in order to make sure he was okay, Captain America took the chance to approach as close to Grunt as he dared and shouted, "Grunt, stand down, NOW!"

That snapped Grunt out of his haze and he immediately released Red Hulk from his grip, muttering a small apology for his actions just now as he stepped back a little, while Red Hulk rubbed his now-freed hand to get some feeling back into it. "Geez Rogers, what're you feeding this kid," Ross demanded, barely noticing how Carol had helped Parker back up to the dais with the others, or how somehow, the two had ended up starting another argument that stemmed from whether or not Peter could take a punch.

"Guess we should've mentioned that his claim to being pure krogan might have one small hiccup in there," Tali offered, a little sheepishly. "It turns out that Grunt is actually part Hulk."

"We like to call him a Krogan-Hulk," Spider-Man informed those who were not already aware, having found the chance to end his current disagreement with Carol.

"Krogan-Hulk, huh," Red Hulk mused, studying Grunt with a new eye. He then smirked again as he said, "Now that definitely sounds like something that could put Green in his place."

"As much as I'm sure we'd all like to see that, there is still the fact that there's something wrong with Grunt," Steve pointed out.

"There's nothing wrong with him," Wrex instantly dismissed. "He's becoming a full adult."

"Wait, you mean this recent attitude and change in his behavior is because of puberty," Spider-Man gaped in disbelief.

Garrus shared his friend's disbelief, and just had to comment on it as well. "Adolescence? Can't we just take him to Omega and buy him a few dances?"

"I don't care what aliens call it," Wrex waved off with an eye roll. "Krogan undergo the Rite of Passage."

Apparently, those words were all took for Uvenk to feel like he had heard enough for one day. "Too far, Wrex! Your clan may rule, but this thing is not krogan, even without that little alien contamination."

Everyone just glared after the leader of Gatatog as he stormed off, each carrying some degree of distain in their eyes as they watched Uvenk leave, until Wrex finally muttered, "Idiot." He then looked back to Grunt and asked, "So, Grunt? Do you wish to stand with Urdnot?"

"Wait, are you saying that you'll actually let him join your clan, even if he is tank-bred and part Hulk," Tali asked, hardly believing her ears. After all, she and the rest of the old _Normandy_ team had helped Wrex take down quite a few tank-bred krogan back in the days when they were hunting Saren, and last she checked, even without that, she was under the impression that tank-bred krogan were not at all popular among krogan in general.

"Only because he's with you guys," Wrex admitted with a nod to her and Garrus. "The three of us killed thousands like him back in the day with Shepard and the others. Not quite as big, or likely anywhere near as strong given his Hulk side, but many, and one cannot ignore the strength and accomplishments of either the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Avengers, or even Spider-Man on his own. Clan Urdnot is strong and others will do as I say. They see the benefit of my vision."

"The fact that he's likely had training from Cap, Spidey, and the other Guardians definitely helps his standing when it comes to the mere idea that he would be strong, too, right," Red Hulk questioned.

Wrex said nothing in response, but he did grin a little to confirm Ross' words, while the rest of the team was left to muse over what they should do now. Still, there were a few things that they had concerns about, and Spider-Man was the one who gave voice to the most important one. "What would happen if Grunt didn't take this Rite thing," the web-head asked.

"If he was left here, he would be killed," Wrex replied as bluntly as a sledge hammer. "The clanless are not respected; a tank-bred probably more so. His disposition is what it is, rite or no. That's just him being a krogan." He then eyed Grunt once more and asked, "Okeer didn't tell ya that in the tank did he, boy?"

Grunt remained silent, giving Wrex all the confirmation that he needed, but was soon brought out of whatever musings he had dropped into when Captain America spoke up again. "Whatever the case may be, at the end of it all, this is all Grunt's choice. We can't make it for you, so what's your call on this, Grunt?"

Grunt just glanced around at the others in silence for a minute, clearly wondering what their thoughts were, but unable to really determine them entirely. Sure, he could see that most of them were giving him silent votes of support, but he could not be certain of everyone for a variety of reasons beyond the fact that he could not see the faces of a few of them. After a minute, he turned to look out at the area behind him, studying this small part of his people's home. Like he had said before, the place was a wreck, but seeing so many krogan hard at work trying to be ready for whatever battle they would face while also working to bring about a new glory to it instilled something else into him beyond the slight disgust he felt earlier. A sense of calm overcame him like he had not known before, and more than that, pride as well, knowing that despite its weakened state, Tuchanka was still strong and growing stronger by the day now. This feeling of pride is what helped him to realize that his decision was actually quite easy.

"I may be part Hulk, but this…It is in my blood. It is what I am for," Grunt determined upon turning back to face everyone once again, confidence burning in his eyes along with the fires of the gamma energy coursing through him.

"Good boy," Wrex approved with a savage grin. "Speak with the shaman. He's over on the second level. Give him a good show and he'll set you on the path." He then began to return to his throne before looking back to the others and adding, "You all, too. I've lost count of how many times Shepard stepped in a mess for his crew, and I know that some of you have done the same for your allies as well."

"Thanks for that," Steve nodded in concession, and with that, the group departed from the dais, making their way back to the rest of the team that was waiting down below.

"Well," Mordin asked, clearly still a little on edge. Though it was hard to say if it was just out of concern for his former student or if it was also because of the fact that salarians were not usually viewed very fondly by the other krogan.

"You were right when you suggested that the scouts might know something about your student, Mordin, and it looks like Grunt's condition is not a sickness but more of a coming-of-age matter, one that I believe we need to get him through right away," Steve informed both the salarian and the team at large. "That being said, we can't afford to waste time and tackle these things one at a time, so we'll have to split up into two teams: one group to assist Mordin in recovering his student, the other to back Grunt in the Rite of Passage."

"Who do you want where, Cap," Star-Lord immediately questioned, his hands already preparing fingering his blasters so he could show that he was ready to go at a moment's notice.

"Captain Marvel, Drax, Star-Lord, Samara, Garrus, Jack, and I will be with Grunt on this Rite of Passage. I have a feeling we're going to need a good deal of our heavy-hitters on this. Meanwhile, Spider-Man, Tali, Kasumi, Thane, Gamora, and Star-Lady will help Mordin locate and rescue his friend. Spider-Man will be in charge of that team," Steve informed them all.

"Geez Cap, if you keep putting me in charge of teams like this, people are gonna start thinking that you're training me to take Miranda's place as XO," Spider-Man joked.

"Hey, that actually wouldn't be a bad idea. If we need to get her out of the way using more aggressive means, just let me know, and I'll be glad to help," Jack offered with a grin that was somewhere between excited and feral.

"All right, that's enough of that. No one's replacing anyone right now, and certainly not through violence," Cap told the two jokers, making sure that they got back on track by giving them a stern look that silently said not to argue. "Once each team has the information that they need, they'll head out at once. Spidey, radio us before you finish, and then wait rendezvous with us here at the camp. We'll head back up to the _Normandy_ once we're all done."

"Yes sir," most of the team replied, while others gave silent nods in consensus or similar words of confirmation, and with that, they all split up into their respective teams, making their way to the individuals that they were directed too.

Cap's group only spared a quick glance to the other team just long enough for them to see Spidey strike up a conversation with the scout commander before putting their full attention on their own assignment as they moved to the second level. They figured that this shaman might stand out from the rest of the krogan, given that he was a shaman, so they were not too worried at first about whether or not they would be able to find him. Their hunch was proven true, but their lack of concern may have been misplaced, because while the shaman was not hard to find, it was not because he stood out from the rest of the krogan. In point of fact, it was because they could see him arguing with Uvenk, and they all quickly drew up one specific suspicion on what it was that Uvenk was speaking to the shaman about. After all, it was the same matter that made him storm off from their conversation with Wrex in the first place.

Once they had gotten close enough, they easily picked up on the tidbits of the conversation, which must have been going for a little while now, because it seemed that the shaman was starting to lose a little bit of his patience. Not that they could blame him, given what they had seen of Uvenk so far, but considering that not much time had passed between the moment when Uvenk had stormed off and now, they figured that the shaman would have a longer fuse than most krogan. Clearly if he did, it was not to a great extent, but then again, he was still a krogan, so what could you really expect?

"You go beyond yourself, Gatatog Uvenk," the shaman snarled. "The Rites of Urdnot are dominant."

"How do we know it will challenge him? He is unnatural! The beasts of the rite could ignore him like a lump of plastic," Uvenk insisted, heatedly.

"They know blood no matter the womb. Your barking does not help your case," the shaman warned, clearly trying his hardest to make it clear that Uvenk was pushing his luck right now.

"I'll speak for myself," Grunt announced, marching to the head of the group so that the shaman would have a better look at him, while making it clear to Uvenk he did not appreciate being talked about badly behind his back if his glare was anything to go by.

"And here I thought that krogan warriors were supposed to be above whining like little school girls that didn't get their way," Garrus quipped to Uvenk. When the others looked at him in disbelief, the turian sighed and said, "I've been spending too much time with Spidey."

"No kidding," Jack agreed with a teasing grin.

The group returned to the matter at hand, each tensing up a little when the shaman approached Grunt out of worry as to how he might react. They knew that there was a chance that he would allow Grunt into the Rite of Passage since he was obviously more in favor of Wrex, but at the same time, there was still the possibility that he could be opposed to Grunt for the same reasons as Uvenk. The shaman barely studied Grunt for more than a few seconds before he murmured, "This is the tank-bred that is part Hulk? It is very life-like." He then took a quick whiff of air near Grunt and added, "Smells correct as well, even with the added strength of the Hulks gamma energy. Your protests ring hollow, Uvenk."

"I have a name. It's Grunt, so use it or get smashed," the Krogan-Hulk growled in warning, slamming a fist into his open palm just as a show of how serious he was.

That little threat did worry the team, but the shaman on the other seemed to find it entertaining, given that he barked out a quick laugh. "It speaks too, and has an attitude! Although, clearly it holds the manners of a typical young Hulk, much like Hulk's boy, Skaar."

"I'm sorry. Did he just say…" Captain America started to ask.

"Yes, the Hulk has a kid. That is a thing. Get over it," Carol interrupted, knowing where Cap was likely going to go with that line of questioning.

Steve decided to put that strange matter aside for now, feeling that it would be better to discuss it later, and likely with someone else (assuming he decided that he actually wanted to), before turning a quick glare onto Uvenk while he addressed the shaman. "Whatever problem this punk has, I couldn't care less. Half or one quarter krogan, Grunt has just as much of a right to be here as anyone else of his kind."

The shaman seemed to like that just as much as Grunt's attitude, because he soon huffed in satisfaction before saying, "There's some fire, and from an alien. Oh the shame this heaps on those who whine like pups."

If anyone thought that was the end of it, they would have been wrong, because Uvenk was certainly not going to make this easy for anyone. "If this must stand on ritual, then I invoke a denial! My krantt stands against him. He has no one."

The low growl that the shaman let out was a sure sign that he was getting annoyed, but all the same, he could not ignore his duties. "My patience is tested, but Uvenk invokes correctly. Grunt, who is your krantt? Your allies willing to kill and die on your behalf?"

Grunt said nothing in reply to that, honestly not sure how to respond right then, but he did cast a quick look to Captain America, silently asking the super soldier to help him out. Seeing that showed Steve just how much Grunt wanted this, and he was about to speak up when Drax interrupted. "How can a candidate be tested if he is allowed to bring support into his trial?"

"Not every krogan can be the strongest warrior, but each must inspire his peers to battle at his side. If the ones who know you best can find nothing worthy in you, you should wander the wastes and die alone before you weaken my clan," the shaman explained, throwing a dangerous warning in just for good measure at the end.

"Well you don't have to worry about that, because Grunt does have support from us: his comrades and friends," Captain America declared, feeling that would be enough.

"As do I, as a fellow Hulk," boomed the voice of Red Hulk, and everyone instantly turned to see Ross marching up to stand alongside Cap and his team. "Hope you don't mind me tagging along, Rogers, but Wrex said it would be okay if I did so long as you didn't have a problem with it. Besides, Jen's been begging me to do something other than just talk with Wrex, fight some of the other krogans, and play a few rounds of poker on my visits here, so I figure getting a little cultural experience like this will get her off my back."

"Well, while this may not be quite as common or even the same as humans would interrupt it, I will grant you aliens your simple interpretation," the shaman nodded.

Uvenk was starting to look even more outraged now. "Aliens don't know strength! My followers are true krogan, and true warriors, unlike the beasts of Sakaar. Everything about them is nothing more a show, while everything about Grunt is a lie."

"You want to run that by me again, Uvenk," Red Hulk growled, his skin starting to gain a faint glow that showed just how hot his temper was now running with the krogan in question.

"Easy there, General," Steve waved Ross off before he stepped over to Uvenk. "If anyone's going to put this whiner in his place for his insults…It's me."

The next thing anyone knew, Captain America had head-butted Uvenk as hard as he could, making the krogan stumble a little, and the super soldier quickly followed up by slamming his shield into Uvenk's side, knocking him down to the ground. "You know, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to just do the head-butt," Quill commented.

"I wanted to make sure my point was clear," Steve defended as he rolled his shoulder, earning a smirk from each of his present team members and Red Hulk.

"You…You dare," Uvenk growled as he rose to his feet again, his surprise very apparent within his glare. Clearly he had not been expecting that to happen at all.

"And I'll gladly do more if you want to keep pushing me," Captain America promised, already rearing his shield arm back for another strike just to prove it.

Seeing all this happen, the shaman could not stop himself from laughing as loudly as he did, filling the entire room, if not half the second level with the sound. "I like this human! He understands!"

Any retort Uvenk was preparing to doll out immediately evaporated when he heard that, and he could now clearly see that he was not going to be getting any help here, so there was only one thing left for him to do. "I withdraw my denial. This will be decided elsewhere," Uvenk begrudgingly sighed, and he marched off once again, making sure to shove Cap and Red Hulk a little as he passed them. He met a little resistance on both parts though, more so in the case of the latter than the former, so he ended up stumbling a little, much to everyone's amusement.

"You have provoked them. Reason enough for me to like you. They're your problem now," the shaman decided, getting the team's attention again.

"Should we take that to mean he'll be a problem," Carol asked. She was not really concerned since she was sure she could take on Uvenk and whatever other support he brought along in a fight on her own, but she was still concerned for the sake of her teammates, especially given the hate that Uvenk clearly had for Grunt.

"He is forbidden to interfere. Will he," the shaman questioned, though from the way he said it, he did not make it seem like a question, or at least not one without a foregone conclusion. "During the Rite of Passage you must be ready for anything. From what you've shown me, you will not disappoint."

"Well I certainly hope that is the case," Captain America nodded in understanding, wanting to get right to business as quickly as possible. Still, there were some things that he needed to check on. "Now regarding the Rite, is there anything special we need to bring, like specific weapons or armor?"

"To begin the Rite, only the candidate and his krantt are required. You love battle, don't you Rogers? The last gasp of a dying opponent? Bring your love of the fight to Grunt's trial, and he will succeed."

"Can we just get this whole shit show started already," Jack asked.

"Still your impatience," the shaman replied, looking a bit annoyed again, only this time with Jack's attitude.

Jack was about to retort when Samara placed a hand on her shoulder and softly said, "You should really do as he says. A calm mind is often a strong key in any situation, be it in the battlefield or outside of it."

Normally, Jack would have told Samara to screw off, but since Samara was a justicar, and was willingly teaching her a few new tricks with her biotics, she swallowed her colorful retort and just nodded. Steve on the other hand, was not letting it go just yet. "Despite the fact that I would have worded it differently, I am wondering the same as Jack. Is there anything else we should know?"

"For now, know that Grunt will be tested, and that you must adapt," the shaman replied.

"That should be easy enough. Adapting to the unknown is something I've gotten pretty good at," Steve quipped with a smirk. He then turned to the person who was actually taking this test and asked, "So Grunt, you ready to get this started?"

"Born that way," Grunt grinned excitedly.

Steve nodded before looking over to Ross and asking, "You still want in, Red Hulk?"

"Hell yeah. Just waiting for you to tell me what we're gonna smash first," Red Hulk grinned while cracking his knuckles.

"Well, you heard them. Let's do this," Steve told the shaman.

"Excellent," the old krogan growled with a grin. He then pushed past them towards a nearby flight of stairs while waving for the team to follow him, and they all did so in a confident march.

* * *

The conversation that Spider-Man's team had with the chief scout had been more than informative for them and their mission. As it turned out, the krogan in question did indeed hear about a salarian that had been taken by the Blood Pack, and informed them that if that was the case, then he was likely being held by Clan Weyrloc. He had sent one of his scouts to investigate, but unfortunately, said scout had never reported back, which the chief scout took to mean that he was captured as well. When they heard that, no one was surprised to hear Spidey promise that they would try to find the missing scout and get him back, for which the chief was grateful, and he had no problem letting the team take one of the trucks out to Weyrloc's base. Before they departed though, the chief scout told them to only go if they "had the quads to deal with Weyrloc and the Blood Pack," and everyone was sure that Parker was smirking beneath his helmet covered head like he had just been given a great challenge. They would have pointed out that this was a drastic change from how he was when they went after Okeer, but they soon remembered that taking down gang leaders was something that Spider-Man did on practically a daily basis back in the Age of Marvels, so their surprise was very short-lived.

That did not mean that Spidey was not still a little nervous, and he made that clear when he decided to give a quick pep talk just as they were pulling up to their destination. "All right, try to keep in mind that we need to do this with as little bulldozing as possible. Our team's not lined up for that, mostly because most of our bigger guns are off with Cap on Grunt's Rite, but that can't slow us down, because we're still more than capable of getting in there and completing our assignment. That being said, we need to keep in mind that we're not here to bring down the Blood Pack. This is a rescue operation, and not a gang bust mission. We'll need to get in and out as quietly as possible, and if we can't do that entirely, then we'll just have to use what we have to fight our way through while doing our best to make sure that whatever patrol we stumble on can't alert the others. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I've got one," Kasumi replied while raising her hand.

"Any questions besides 'are we there yet'," Spider-Man preempted, since Kasumi had asked that a couple times now already, mostly to be funny.

Kasumi immediately put her hand down and crossed her arms in a playful huff, getting an amused smirk from Kitty when she did. Aside from that though, the team remained silent, so that was a sure sign for Parker that they were all ready to roll at any moment, and it was a good thing too, because they all felt the truck lurch a little a second later before its engine cut off, indicating that they had reached their destination. Once the driver had confirmed that for them, they all clambered out of the massive all-terrain vehicle and made their way forward with whatever available weapons they had at the ready. When they found nothing but a closed door, Spider-Man quietly signaled for them to proceed forward while motioning Tali over, thinking she would need to hack the door lock. As it turned out though, no hacking was necessary, because it was already open. That would have been viewed as a good sign by most, but to Spidey, that was not the case. To him, that spelled trap, and it was clear that the others felt the same way, given how many of them had tensed up when they saw the door open without any resistance to reveal an open field with few vantage points and little areas of cover to them.

Looking over the area, Spider-Man eventually spotted a structure a few feet away, indicating that they still had a little ways to go before they reached the actual base, and he knew there was no way that they would be able to just get their without being spotted at least once on this trek. That made his next call any obvious one. "Kasumi, cloak and scout ahead to see if this club has any short-tempered bouncers."

"You've got it Kumo-ani," Kasumi playfully saluted in return before she vanished behind her cloak.

"Thane, can you stick to the shadows and get their without anyone noticing you?"

"It may be a little difficult, given this terrain, but I should still be able to manage," Thane confirmed.

"Good. Then you follow after Kasumi. I don't want her down there without any backup, and with both of you over there, if we run into any Blood Pack, we can hit them from in front and from behind."

Thane nodded and immediately stepped back before jumping up to somewhere above them, vanishing from sight just seconds after he did, and leaving the others to prepare themselves for the fight that was likely ahead of them while they waited to hear back from the master thief or the drell assassin. They did not have to wait too long, as Kasumi was soon calling them back a couple of minutes later with news. _"There's not too much in the way of Blood Pack troops between you guys and the way in, but there are a few creepy crawly things that have a nasty sting to them to be concerned about. The door in is also locked. I may be good at breaking codes and such, especially those that are implemented by a krogan gang, but in this case, I'd feel a lot better if we had our resident quarian open it up."_

"Thane, can you confirm that," Spider-Man asked.

 _"Indeed. There are quite a few klixens and some varren that you will have to deal with first, but Kasumi and I should be able to handle the guards at the door and a few feet ahead of it on our own,"_ Thane reported.

"Well then, no point in wasting any more time," Gamora decided as she holstered her sword in favor of a large gun.

"Wait, is that a rifle," Spider-Man asked the former daughter of Thanos.

"Did you forget what a rifle looks like, Web-Head," Gamora questioned with a dry look.

"No, it's just I always thought that swords were your thing while guns were Star-Lord and Rocket's. Not that you can't do guns too, I just didn't know that you were now, so…"

"You want to shut up now, Parker?"

"Yes I do, at least with this line of conversation." The web-swinger then became completely serious as he and the others prepared to move out and he whispered, "On my mark. In three…Two…One…GO!"

The minute Spider-Man had shouted the signal, the five charged in and were immediately met with the large insectoids known as klixens, along with the savage hounds that were the varren, and Kitty and Gamora both immediately started blasting them with their respective blasters. Mordin quickly unleashed a plasma round from his omni-tool that lit up an approaching varren, causing it to scramble away in fear long enough for Tali to finish it off with her shotgun. The quarian would have likely tried to set up another enemy for Mordin to take down, but instead had to let out a small shriek of fright when one of the klixens got a bit too close for her comfort. Thankfully, she had made sure to pack the new upgrades to her suit, so a quick blast from her wrist-mounted shotguns made short work of the oversized bug. Any additional enemies found themselves snagged by Spider-Man's webs before the web-head fried them with some Taser Webs.

While they were doing that, the vorcha and krogan that were standing guard had been alerted to the sounds of battle, and were about to move and investigate, until the rear most vorcha suddenly let out a grunt of pain, prompting them to turn and see that he had been taken out. They instantly raised their weapons to shoot at whatever had done so, but then, a krogan in the middle of their formation was suddenly shot down, no doubt thanks to a sniper that was somewhere close by. This little tactic of stealth strikes and sniper shots continued on, until finally, Kasumi dropped her cloak and shot down the last of the vorcha, while Thane shot the final krogan, just as he was about to try and charge the hooded klepto. When Thane showed himself again, Kasumi had to grin in thanks to him before settling herself on the nearby wall as they waited for the rest of their teammates, while Thane did the same a second later.

They did not have to wait too long, as Spidey and Mordin soon appeared before them, with the others following swiftly behind. The instant she saw the locked door, Tali ran ahead of the team leader and salarian scientist and began to work her magic, hacking through the electronic lock and opening it up in matter of minutes. She then waved everyone in like she was holding the door open for a friend, and the others immediately proceeded forward, with Kasumi cloaking once again as she looked for any enemies ahead of them, while Kitty used her phasing powers to check around corners or in rooms that were blocked off in one way or another. As they were going, Mordin had been studying their surroundings, feeling as though there were something familiar about them until he finally managed to place it.

"Repurposed krogan hospital. Sturdy. Built to withstand punishment," the salarian reported to the others.

"That's unfortunate. Hospitals aren't usually all that fun to fight through, no matter who you are," Kitty commented, having been reminded of a few times she had to do so over the years back in the Age of Marvels. True, most of those times had been mad scientist labs than they were actual hospitals, but they still had that same feeling beneath the science equipment and experimentation tools.

"I kinda doubt this place is very sterilized too," Spidey quipped in good humor, drawing a smile or two from his teammates, including a small one from Mordin.

Any further banter was interrupted when Kasumi suddenly reappeared before them and said, "This place should probably be a morgue, considering I've already found a dead body."

That prompted the doctor among them to lose his smile as he moved to the forefront, and approached the body that Kasumi had found, after she had pointed it out to them. "This body. Human. Need to take a look," the salarain revealed to them before opening his omni-tool and running some medical scans. "Sores, tumors, ligatures showing restraint at wrists. Track marks for repeated injection sites. Test subject. Victim of experimentation."

"Is there any way to find out who this guy was," Gamora asked while reloading her rifle.

"No tattoos or ID. Maybe slave or prisoner. Maybe merc or pirate. Irrelevant now," Mordin waved off while continuing his scans. That made Spidey bristle a little, since he felt that it should matter, but he put it aside for the moment, knowing that Mordin was probably just trying to keep things professional. "Clearly part of krogan tests to cure genophage," Mordin continued. "Humans useful as test subjects. Genetically diverse. Enables exploration of treatment modalities."

"Yeah, I think I speak for all three of the humans that are currently in the room when I say we'll try not to take offense to that," Kitty muttered with a slight scowl in Mordin's direction, one that Kasumi shared along with crossing her arms.

"Besides, if they were trying to use something to cure the genophage, then why not use something that was native to Tuchanka, like a varren," Spider-Man questioned, the scientist in him coming out a little after hearing Mordin's guess, despite the fact that he shared Kitty and Kasumi's sentiment.

"Yes. Human experiments strictly high-level, concept testing. Native Tuchanka fauna likely used later, in development stages. Wise to delay use of varren until necessary. Powerful bite," Mordin explained.

"Uh, I know I'm probably the last person to be asking this, but I still have to ask: how are humans more genetically diverse, aside from the obvious, I mean?"

"More variables. Peaks and valleys, mutations, adaptations. Far beyond other life. Age of Marvels show greatest examples with the rise of both mutant race, Inhumans, and various metas that appeared over the years like yourself, Spider-Man," Mordin explained. "Makes humans useful test subjects. Larger reactions to smaller stimuli."

"I know humans can look pretty different from one another, even without x-gene mutations that would alter appearances like those of Hank McCoy or Nightcrawler, but there are other aliens out there that can look different from one another too," Gamora pointed out.

"No. Ignore superficial appearance. Down to genetic code. Biotic levels, intelligence levels. Can look at random asari, krogan, make reasonable guess. Humans too variable to judge," Mordin countered.

"He has a point," Peter admitted while placing a hand on his chin in thought. "Back in the Age of Marvels, I remember times when a couple of people had tried to replicate giving someone my spider powers, or when someone attempted to recreate the super soldier serum, and most of those times did not have great results."

"Exactly," Mordin nodded. "Outliers in all species, of course. Geniuses, idiots. But human probability curve offers greater overall variety."

"Okay, now I'm curious. Did you ever do any live subject testing while developing the new genophage," Kasumi asked Mordin, drawing surprised looks from the rest of the team when they heard that.

"What's she talking about, Mordin," Gamora asked.

Mordin paused in his analysis of the dead body for a minute before sighing in defeat and revealing the truth of his work with the STG to the others like he had to Captain America the other day. Needless to say, while one or two of them somewhat understood what Mordin did, the rest of them had similar if not the exact same reactions as Steve had. "You mean to tell me that you sterilized the krogan just because the genophage seemed to be weakening and you were scared that they would start the Krogan Rebellions again," Spider-Man angrily demanded.

"Please, Spider-Man. Fear had little to do with decision. Not a war criminal. Not a murderer. Genocide unnecessary. Ran simulations, determined best outcome. Modified genophage was it," Mordin defended once again.

"And what about Kasumi's question? Did you have to do any live subject testing," Kitty demanded, having a particularly hatred for things like what Mordin have done, since some of her own friends had suffered due to lab experiments of others.

"No, unnecessary. Limited tests to simulations, corpses, cloned tissue samples. High level tests on varren. No tests on species with members capable of calculus. Simple rule, never broke it," Mordin replied.

While he was not okay with what Mordin and his team had done, Spider-Man was at least glad to hear that Mordin never did any live subject testing. To be honest, part of him could understand why Mordin and his team did what they had, both based off what he had read in regards to the krogan rebellions and his own encounters with some of the more dangerous and violent krogans, but that did not mean he was okay with it. Still, he put it aside for now so that they could focus on the more important matters at hand. "Can you tell anything about their experiments from looking at this body," Spidey asked, feeling that it would be best to stay on track with their business for now.

Mordin was grateful to the web-head for the change of subject and his attempt at keeping things professional, and immediately answered Spidey's question. "Position of tumors suggests deliberate mutation of adrenal, pineal glands. Modifying hormone levels. Counterattack on glands hit by genophage." He then had to let out a quick sigh before he admitted, "Clever."

"Sounds a bit more bad than clever if you ask me," Kitty admitted.

"Agreed. Does this mean that they are close to curing the genophage," Thane questioned.

"Can't say. Need more data," Mordin admitted. "Conceptually sound, though. Genophage alters hormone levels. Could repair damage with hormonal counterattack."

"Either way, we now have another reason to shut this place down," Spider-Man determined, prompting Mordin to shut off his scanner and stand up again. "Let's get moving. We can't help this guy now, but we can still help Maelon."

Everyone nodded in agreement at that, and quickly proceeded onwards, determined to see this through to the end. Despite that, some of them still sent Mordin some skeptical looks every so often, and when he caught notice of them, Mordin knew that this meant that the trust he had from those teammates had likely been shaken a little. He would still defend the actions he had taken in the past as he always had, but he did acknowledge that he would have to prove to his new found teammates that they could count on him despite that. That was something he felt was best to put on the backburner for now though, because rescuing Maelon took priority for the moment.

* * *

While Spider-Man, Mordin, and their team were steadily progressing through Weyrloc's base, Captain America's group had arrived at the location where Grunt's Rite of Passage would take place after a long, very bumpy ride that had everyone rattling around in their seats. When they arrived, the shaman had explained that their battleground was the last surface city to fall in the Krogan Rebellions, calling it Tuchanka's most recent scar as he did, and mentioned that an item called the keystone lay at the heart of this scar. Apparently it had endured in that same place for centuries much like the krogan, and if Grunt wanted to join Clan Urdnot, he would have to contemplate the keystone and its trials. When asked what would happen, the shaman's reply indicated that even he did not know for sure, as he simply said that he would need to adapt and thrive no matter the situation like any true krogan would, and with that, he left them there, standing before the keystone atop the small flight of stairs in the middle of what was sure to be their arena of combat.

As he glanced around at the surface city, taking in the ruins and the dust-filled winds that whipped throughout, Steve could not help but let out a silent sigh at how far the krogan homeworld had been to fall, be it because of the krogan themselves or because of others. It was not entirely silent though, as Red Hulk had heard him, and had to comment. "It's a sad sight, I'll admit, but it also shows that the krogan are tough despite what has happened here, and that they don't forget their past so easily."

"Never would've pegged you for the philosophical type, Ross," Carol admitted.

"Hey, I may be a military general at heart, but I do got other sides to me besides that," Red Hulk huffed.

"Enough talking. Let's begin this rite so that we may show all the true might of our Krogan-Hulk friend," Drax demanded, his daggers flaring with energy the minute he had drawn them to show he was ready.

"Whoa! Slow down there, buddy. Maybe we should take a minute to be absolutely sure that we're ready to go before we do anything else," Star-Lord advised his teammate with a hand on the grey-skinned warrior's shoulder.

Captain America agreed with Quill's suggestion, and was about to suggest a course of action, when a loud speaker cut him off, with a low, growling voice that was distinctively krogan speaking over it when it started. **"First the krogan conquered Tuchanka…and mastered a natural world only we are fit to hold."**

At once, everyone's eyes went over to the keystone, and it did not take long to spot Grunt standing right next to it, no doubt having already activated the thing. When he saw them all glaring at him, Grunt just shrugged his shoulders and said, "What? I'm ready now. Let's get this thing started."

"WHAT DID I JUST GET DONE TELLING DRAX," Star-Lord hotly demanded.

"Nothing we can do about it now, Quill. Just get whatever you need ready as fast as possible and be ready for whatever comes," Captain America advised the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, his shield already getting moved onto his arm the minute he had realized what Grunt had done, while his other hand reached for his pistol.

The others were quickly drawing weapons soon after, while Jack and Samara readied their biotics for battle, and Captain Marvel activated her helmeted mask as her fists blazed with energy. Red Hulk just smirked a little as he cracked his knuckles, eager to see what would happen, and he did not have to wait long, because the keystone suddenly let out a shockwave beneath their feet and they all just knew they were not the only ones who noticed it. Their suspicion was proven correct when Garrus saw movement from across the plaza, and he immediately shouted, "We've got incoming contacts at eleven and one o'clock!"

"Garrus, take position here or anywhere else where you can to set up for some sniper shots. Jack, Samara, watch our flanks and be ready to throw up biotic fields for protection at a moment's notice. Star-Lord, Air Force, get airborne and give us some eyes in the sky. Drax, Red Hulk, and Grunt, on me," Captain America immediately barked, with everyone quickly assuming their assigned positions the minute they heard Cap's orders for them.

They all ended up waiting for a few minutes after they had assumed their positions, and after all that waiting, some of them were a bit disappointed to find that the only things coming towards them were a few waves of varren. Sure, they came in various sizes, but it was still just a bunch of varren nonetheless. Grunt was certainly not complaining though, because every time that the mongrels got close enough, he would start slamming his fists into them and smashing away like a true Hulk, and Red Hulk was right there with him in the thick of it, with Drax right behind them as he slashed through any that somehow managed to slip past the two. Cap was next to Drax doing what was basically the same as the Destroyer, but mainly varied between beating down the varren, slashing them with his shield, or just blasting them with his pistol. Things went on like this for a few waves or so, with the others not really having to do all that much, aside from how Garrus would occasionally shoot a varren or two when he felt that there were getting to be too many for the four to handle, but it did start to pick up a little bit after a while.

When it did finally escalate high enough, Jack and Samara immediately joined in with a number of powerful biotic abilities being added into the mix, and the varren were either blasted away, flattened, or just held immobile long enough for the others to finish them off. They also fired off a few rounds from their own guns when they got the chance, but they mainly focused on using their biotic powers to keep the varren back long enough for the rest of their teammates to finish off the alien mutts. Eventually, the varren started coming in so fast that Red Hulk finally decided to stop settling for just smashing, reached into his coat, and whipped out a pair of large blasters that he used to pepper the area the varren were coming from with a wide field of blasts while roaring loudly. Red Hulk's barrage definitely helped make things easier for the team, and when you added in the fact that Star-Lord and Captain Marvel were occasionally throwing down some blasts from above, it came as no surprise that it was a short time until they had found no more varren coming after them, meaning that this round was more than likely over.

Seeing the field was cleared, Grunt let out a small laugh of satisfaction before turning a confused gaze to Red Hulk as he asked, "I thought Hulks were supposed to be all about smashing stuff with their bare hands. Why are you using guns?"

"Hey, I may have the strength to smash through anything and shrug off most enemy fire, but that doesn't mean I stupid enough to just go charging in without thinking that the enemy's gonna have something to spring on me. Besides, having some extra firepower like this helps to make the fight end more quickly, which is a good thing to have when you're on a team of folks who can't really hope to be as strong as you," Red Hulk shrugged, reloading his guns as he did.

Grunt seemed to accept that explanation, having a good idea of why Red Hulk felt that way due to his time on the _Normandy_ , and then started grinning again as he turned to Cap and said, "Don't tell me that's it though, because I was just getting warmed up. Let's go again already!"

While he did applaud Grunt's enthusiasm, Captain America still had to make doubly sure that they were in the clear, so he quickly checked with their eyes-in-the-sky and the sniper of their group to make sure that they were in the clear. "I can't see any more varren coming at us from where I am, so I'd assume that's it," Garrus reported.

"We're definitely clear from what I can tell," Captain Marvel confirmed.

"I've got nothing on my own scanners either, so I think we can relax now," Star-Lord finished as he landed on the ground alongside Carol.

"Okay, I'll go tag the keystone then," Grunt decided, already racing towards said artifact even as he spoke, a fact that Steve had not missed at all, since he was already chasing after the Krogan-Hulk.

Thankfully, Cap managed to reach Grunt just as the big guy was reaching for the keystone, and immediately stopped him before Grunt could activate it. "Hold up there, soldier. Let's not just jump right into things without taking a moment to properly catch our breathes," Steve advised.

"But I'm ready to go now," Grunt complained.

"I know you are, but your teammates would appreciate a chance to make sure that _they're_ ready," Captain America calmly explained. "This is simple battle tactics: if you have a chance to wait and regroup, then you need to take it while you can. This may be your trial, but part of it is to show that your comrades can rely in you when you fight alongside them. An important part of that is knowing when your allies need a moment to rest and recover their energy, even if you're ready for action."

Grunt looked over to his teammates, seeing them all moving to where he and Cap were from where they had been previously positioned, and after studying them for a minute, he could see that some of them were indeed still looking over their equipment to make sure it was all in working order. Not only that, but he saw that Samara and Jack were very slightly out of breath, no doubt due to the constant use of their biotics in the previous fight, while Drax was actually panting a little more visibly than the other two, so he did understand that Cap had a point in saying that they needed to take advantage of this break in the action to recover. When he realized this, he nodded to the super soldier, showing that he understood the captain's words, and then moved to help Steve in checking on the others to see if he could help make sure they were ready somehow.

While he was doing that, he noticed that Red Hulk, while not as tired as the others for reasons similar to his own, appeared to be looking at him an intense, studious gaze, like he was trying to find something in the Krogan-Hulk. Grunt was not sure how to feel about that. On one hand, it could mean that the veteran Hulk was trying to figure something out about his powers that the Krogan-Hulk himself had not yet discovered, but on the other hand, it could also mean that Red Hulk was re-evaluating his opinion of Grunt as well. Considering that Red Hulk was quick to stand alongside him when Uvenk tried to deny him the right to participate in the Rite of Passage, Grunt had to assume that it was not the latter, but that did not make him any less nervous while he was under the watchful gaze of Ross. He decided to focus on the rite for now and ask Red Hulk about it later, and did his best to ignore Ross' staring in favor of helping the others get ready, but that plan was quickly thrown out the window when Red Hulk decided to approach the matter himself by coming over to talk with him.

"Tell me, Runt, did your gamma powers only come with the basic boost in strength, or did they come with any extras," Red Hulk asked, his tone serious despite the use of his new nickname for the Krogan-Hulk.

Grunt bristled slightly at the nickname, but he was more confused by the question to really care about it too much. "What do you mean?"

"While it's typically normal for all Hulks to get a massive strength boost after they get gamma-ed up, sometimes there will be other things mixed in as well," Red Hulk explained. "When Jones first became A-Bomb, he quickly found out he could turn invisible along with curling up into what could basically be a massive, spiky cannon ball, and then you've got me. Not only do I get stronger when I get angrier, but I also put a literal spin on my temper getting heated since I can also get hotter as I get angrier. Hot enough to the point where I can even melt Asgardian metal if I wanted to. Considering you're a Krogan-Hulk, I can't help but wonder if you got any bonuses yourself or just the strength boost."

Grunt was silent at that point, not really sure himself. He did remember reading about how both Red Hulk and A-Bomb had additional abilities along with their incredible strength, but he never really thought about looking into whether or not he had something like that himself. He had mainly been focused on harnessing the gamma power so that it would not overwhelm him like Cap, Spidey, and his other teachers had been instructing him to do. Still, now that the idea was in his head, Grunt had to wonder if he did have something like that in him. Could he have fire-related powers like Red Hulk, turn invisible like A-Bomb, or did he have something else that neither of them ever had? It was hard to say right now, and he did not really think now was the best time to think about it.

Apparently, Red Hulk agreed with that sentiment, because after receiving only silence in answer to his question, he patted Grunt on the shoulder and said, "Ah, don't worry about it for now. Let's just get this rite over with and then we can experiment to see if you've anything extra besides the good old smashing gift in ya."

Grunt nodded in understanding, agreeing with that idea for the moment, and was brought completely back into the moment when he heard Captain America give him the go-ahead for tagging the keystone. Even after hearing that though, Grunt had to take a moment to look over his teammates, just to make sure that they were ready himself, and when he saw no sign of anyone looking like they needed another minute, he headed over and activated the old device, confident that he and his krantt were ready for round two and whatever the Rite of Passage had to throw at them. He just hoped it was something besides more varren, because killing nothing besides those things the whole time would be really boring.

* * *

Any chance of keeping their mission completely stealth was soon lost for Team Spidey, because a short time after they had moved away from the dead human body that they had found, they ran right into an ambush, where a speaker for Clan Weyrloc had come out to give them a chance to retreat and warn others of their clan's rise. That alone raised a few red flags for everyone, since krogan did not usually let people go free instead of killing them, so they had to ask why that was the case. Their answer came in the form of a short monologue about how they would be able to say they had seen Clan Weyrloc before they had taken over both Tuchanka and the rest of the galaxy after destroying Clan Urdnot. The only good thing they heard was confirmation that Maelon was indeed alive, but from the sounds of things, it seemed that they had discovered his work and were now forcing him to help cure the genophage. Kitty and Spidey both did their best to try and appeal to the speaker, but he just shrugged their negotiation attempts off and started a full monologue about how they did not understand the krogan's struggles when it came to the genophage, how Weyrloc were going to make this wrong right, and how they would not need any support from anyone else in the galaxy if they started a war. Fortunately for the team, like he had told Donovan Hock before, Spider-Man had already heard enough bad guy monologues in his life, and he was not going to just sit around and listen to another one.

Spider-Man immediately interrupted the krogan's speech by blasting a steam valve that had a flammable warning sign on it, and at first the krogan thought the web-head had missed. This was a mistake that several people have made before when facing Spider-Man, and he was glad that they were still making it today, because it gave him a chance to fire a Taser Web into the flammable steam, incinerating the speaker in and anyone near him the instant that the electrified webbing struck. The fight that followed was relatively short, thanks in part to the combined skills of Thane and Gamora, and it helped that they had Tali and Mordin both supporting them with any tech-based attacks that the two could throw out. Kasumi taking out every target that she could while invisible only made it go by that much more quickly, and the team was soon moving through the base as quickly as they could, feeling that it was now much more urgent to save Maelon since they had been discovered.

Despite being discovered, they did not stop treating this like a stealth mission and kept to the shadows as much as they could. This was still a rescue mission after all, so they were not going to go around looking for a fight if they could help it. All being discovered meant was that they would have to be more cautious than before. Knowing this, Spider-Man continued to have Kasumi scout ahead while cloaked, but made sure rotate Thane and Gamora's positions so that either one of the two would be able to cover her, while Kitty stayed close behind the other two. If anyone was going to be able to reach Kasumi the quickest in the event that the two trained assassins could not, it would be the woman who could walk through walls, after all. All the same, they kept their eyes open for anything that would help them later on, be it for their current assignment, or for their fight against the Collectors, and that was what helped them to locate an active console in one of the empty examination rooms.

Mordin had immediately rushed over and set to work looking through the files, while Spidey, Gamora, and Tali made sure to cover him while he worked, and he eventually found a few interesting bits of information. "Genetic sequences. Hormone mutagens still steady. Protein chains, live tissue, cloned tissue. Very thorough," Mordin recited to them, already prepared to go into further explanation when they cast him the questioning looks that he knew would follow. "Standard treatment vectors. Avoiding scorched-earth immunosuppressants to alter hormone levels. Good. Hate to see that."

Gamora scowled a little when she heard Mordin's words, and could not help but give voice to her distaste. "That's a little ironic coming from someone who helped doom the krogan race," the green-skinned Guardian remarked.

"Pardon?"

"I'm just saying that normally people aren't so casual about developing a sterility plague, and yet you talk about it like someone had asked you about the weather."

"Not developing. Modifying," Mordin corrected. "Much more difficult. Working within confines of existing genophage. A hundred times the complexity. Errors unacceptable. Could cause total sterility, malignant tumors. Could even reduce effectiveness. Worse than doing nothing. Had to keep krogan population stable. One in one thousand. Perfect target, optimal growth. Like gardening."

Gamora was about to call Mordin out on his words again when Tali brought up something else that she had noted in the salarian's words. "Are you saying that you were working just as hard to keep the krogan population from falling?"

"Yes. Could have eradicated krogan. Not difficult. Increased mutation to degrade genetic structure further. Chose not to. Rachni extinction tragic. Didn't want to repeat. All life precious. Universe demands diversity," Mordin nodded passionately.

While Tali and Gamora would both be a little hesitant to agree with Mordin's opinion on the rachni extinction, they did agree with the idea that all life was precious. Unfortunately for Mordin, it was that very same idea that pushed Gamora on in her argument with him. "I don't care what you say to try and assuage your conscience. You still murdered millions!"

"Not one to talk, yourself, considering the number of people you killed for the likes of Thanos or Ronan," Mordin pointed out, and the others could have sworn that there was a hint of anger in his voice. "More importantly, murdered no one. Altered fertility, prevented fetal development of nervous system. Have killed many. Many methods. Gunfire, knives, drugs, tech attacks, once with farming equipment. But not with medicine!"

Clearly, Gamora had hit a nerve with that, and Spidey saw it fit to intervene before she dug herself into a deeper hole than she already had. The fact that this gave him an opportunity to ask a question he had been wondering about for a little while now was just an added bonus. "Mordin, I have to know how you can really agree with using the genophage, especially after seeing what happened to Tuchanka as a result," Spidey asked.

"State of Tuchanka not due to genophage, Spider-Man. As was previously mentioned on the shuttle, nuclear winter caused by krogan before salarians made first contact," Mordin corrected once again. "Krogan choices. Refuse truce during Krogan Rebellions. Expand after Rachni Wars. Splinter after genophage. Genophage medical, not nuclear. No craters from virus. Damage caused by krogan, not salarians. Not me."

"Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean there aren't any craters that were caused by the genophage," Spider-Man disputed. "You basically upgraded the virus that kept them as the mindless barbarians so many people stereotype them as, and that makes the effects on Tuchanka part of your responsibility."

"Krogan committed war crimes. Refused to negotiate. Turian defeat not complete. Krogan could have recovered, attacked again. Conventional war too risky. Krogan forces too strong. Genophage was only option. Krogan forced genophage. Us or them. No apologies for winning. Wouldn't have minded peaceful solution," Mordin calmly explained.

"So you would be okay with krogan coming together to form a united government," Gamora asked, just to make sure she was understanding right.

"Yes. United krogan saved galaxy, destroyed rachni," Mordin confirmed, and while his response may seem more on the tactical side, the three could somehow tell that he had thoughts that went beyond that. "Genophage not punishment. Simply alters fertility to correct for removal from hostile environment."

This conversation was obviously not going to go anywhere further than that, and Spidey was ready to move on now, but before he could say anything, Kasumi came over and said, "Guys, we found something that you might want to see."

The sound of dread in Kasumi's tone made the four both nervous and curious at the same time, so they could not help but follow her to the next room where they had seen her and the others disappear into. A moment later, some of them wished that they had not, because they found themselves in a room that was clearly used for more experimentation, along with a large dead body. Looking over to Thane, Spider-Man quickly received an answer to his unasked question. "Dead. Likely for some time now since there's still a small trace of warmth on the body, but it is very small. Almost unnoticeable really."

Mordin was instantly approaching so that he could examine the body, likely anticipating that someone was going to ask him, and he was soon giving a report of his own. "Krogan female. Tumors indicate experimentation. No restraint marks. Volunteer."

"Volunteer? You mean she let them do this to her," Kitty asked, sounding both horrified and appalled at the idea.

"Yes," Mordin nodded sadly. "Sterile Weyrloc female willing to risk procedures. Hoped for cure. Pointless. Pointless waste of life."

"Didn't think you'd be disturbed by this, Doc," Kasumi admitted.

"What? Why? Because of genophage work? Irrelevant. No, causative," Mordin heatedly insisted, glaring at everyone to silently dare them to try and say otherwise. "Never killed with medicine. Her death not my work, only reaction to it. Goal was to stabilize population. Never wanted this. Can see it logically…but still unnecessary. Foolish waste of life. Hate to see it."

"You say that like you've had a lot of direct contact with these kind of things," Kitty noted.

"Have seen much of this. Yearly recon missions on Tuchanka after dropping genophage modification," Mordin explained. "Water, tissue samples. Ensure no mistakes. Superiors offered to carry it on. Refused. Need to see it in person. Need to look. Need to see. Accept it as necessary. See small picture. Remind myself why I run a clinic on Omega."

While he did not say anything in response, Spider-Man did silently nod in understanding of that. There were many times when he had revisited the bridge where Gwen Stacy had died as a way to remind himself that he was not invincible or to show he would never forget that particular failure. He knew that he was not the only one who did that, as he remembered Kitty once telling him she would do something similar to honor the memory of the friends she had lost during her time as an X-Man, and he knew that Cap would sometimes visit certain places in Brooklyn to remind himself why he is still fighting as Captain America. It may not be exactly the same thing as Mordin's reasons, but it was still a close similarity all the same.

Thane could understand that as well, and it showed when he would pray before and after every kill that he ever made, but even he was surprised when Mordin waved a hand over the dead krogan and recited a prayer of his own. "Rest, young mother. Find your gods. Find someplace better."

"I did not believe you to be the religious sort, Mordin," Thane admitted.

"Genophage modification project altered millions of lives. Then saw results. Ego, humility, juxtaposition. Frailty of life. Size of universe. Explored religions after work completed. Different races. No answers. Many questions," Mordin revealed.

"So you were trying ease your guilty conscience or something," Kitty asked, though her glare made it seem more like a demand than anything else.

"Modified genophage project great in scope. Scientifically brilliant. But ethically difficult. Krogan reaction visceral, tragic. Not guilty, but responsible. Trained as doctor. Genophage affects fertility. Doesn't kill. Still, caused this. Hard to see big picture behind pile of corpses."

"If it bothers you so much, then how are you able to justify this so easily," Spider-Man asked, finally feeling like he had started to reach his breaking point with this topic.

Mordin sighed before he explained, "Wheel of life. Popular salarian concept. Similar to human Hinduism in focus on reincarnation. Appealing to see life as endless. Fix mistakes in next life. Learn, adapt, improve. Refuse to believe life ends here. Too wasteful. Have more to offer. Mistakes to fix. Cannot end here. Could do so much more."

"You can also do more and fix your mistakes in this life. If it really takes this much soul-searching for you to get over what happened, then don't you think that means the genophage was wrong," Spider-Man pointed out.

"Had to be done. Rachni Wars, Krogan Rebellions all pointed to krogan aggression. So many simulations. Effects of krogan population increase. All pointed to war. Extinction. Genophage or genocide. Save galaxy from krogan. Save krogan from galaxy."

"You do know that real life is a lot different from a simulation, no matter how many of them you run, right," Spider-Man asked. "Do your people ever try to test something outside of a lab without being forced to, or are you all just too afraid of what you might find if you did?"

"Fear not a deciding factor at all. Will admit that salarians do put too much stock in what lab simulation results say, but don't just leave it at a small handful either. Millions of data points. Years of arguments. Countless scenarios. All noted krogan fragmentation as dangerous. No unified culture to support repopulation. Would have been war. Turians and humans destroying krogan utterly. Genophage was better. Saved lives."

"I don't think the dead woman here would agree with you, Mordin, and frankly, it doesn't look like you saved her to me either," Spidey argued.

"…No. It doesn't," Mordin sighed sadly. "Worked with available data. Only option. No other possible…Doesn't matter."

"Whether or not it matters isn't the point. There's still a chance to fix this. Maybe curing the genophage will have a bad end result, maybe it won't. You'll really know for sure until you try. That's something that can't truly be discovered in a lab simulation," Spider-Man finished. He then looked around at the others, and said, "Staying here right now on other hand, is pointless. There's nothing we can do for her now, but we can still save Maelon, so let's keep moving, hopefully before we have to add any more bodies to the casualty list."

Everyone agreed with that sentiment, and they were soon moving again, with Mordin being the last to leave the room, having taken one last look at the deceased female krogan before he went after them. They were all still feeling very upset over what they had just seen though, so the next time they came across a group of Blood Pack guards, they did not make any attempts to avoid them. Instead, they made said guards into targets that they could take out their frustrations on, and it was not a pretty sight when they did. Tali and Mordin were both throwing out tech attacks and shotgun blasts at whatever poor soul dared to cross them, while Spider-Man and Kasumi easily eliminated anyone who got too close before racing over to another target. There was even a point where the web-head actually fired his repulsor on a krogan at point-blank, and Kitty did the same with her element blaster after phasing a krogan's armor off of him. Even Gamora and Thane, both of which were usually very levelheaded while on a mission like this, were striking with an unspoken anger with every enemy that they took down or killed. By the end of that battle, there were no Blood Pack soldiers left, and everyone was feeling a little bit better knowing that some of the supporters for the terrible experiments being conducted here were either severely hurt or dead. Even Spidey was a little glad that some of them were dead, as much as he was ashamed to admit it.

Regardless of how brutal that fight had been, it did serve its purpose in helping the team to clear their heads a little, and made their next few encounters with Blood Pack troops go a little more quickly and smoothly, just as they all should have. Every take down was swift, and they made sure to keep any of them for calling in reinforcements, which made their progress through the base that much easier. In no time at all, they found themselves coming up on the room where Mordin suspected his former student was being held, until Thane noticed that they seemed to have been passing by one of the holding cells. When he informed the others, Spidey instantly remembered that they had promised to also look for a missing Urdnot scout, and he immediately asked Tali to get the door open. When the door finally opened, they did indeed find one living krogan inside, and once they confirmed that his clan markings were not those of Weyrloc, they knew in an instant that they had found their guy.

"Hey, you the missing Urdnot scout," Spidey asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah," the scout replied. "Weyrloc guards got me. Brought me here."

"Well then, it's your lucky day, because this here's a jailbreak," Spider-Man jovially announced. "The guards are all down so the way back to Urdnot is all clear for you."

"I can't," the scout revealed, surprising the whole team. "The Weyrloc did things to me. Drugs. Injections…Said I was sacrificing for the good of all krogan. Experiments to cure the genophage. Everything's blurry. Hard to think. Have to stay."

"We can help with that. We've got medigel and a doctor with us. He should be able to get you back on your feet," Kitty offered, waving to Mordin when she mentioned their resident doctor.

"No, you don't understand. I'm not too sick to leave. I have to stay."

"…Come again," Gamora asked, not entirely sure that she had heard that right, a sentiment that the others all shared with her.

"They're curing the genophage. They're going to make it all better! They have to keep doing the tests," the krogan emphasized as best as he could in his condition.

"He can't be serious," Kitty muttered.

"Caution, friends. Patient unstable, susceptible. Brainwashed," Mordin whispered to the group.

No one really needed Mordin to tell them that, seeing as they had all already figured it had to be something like that, but it was still good to have a little confirmation. Then again, there could be something else as well, and Thane was the first to recognize that. "Why do you wish for them to continue the tests? You do know that you will likely perish if this goes on, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know that, and I'm okay with it," the krogan scout insisted. "This is my fault. I got caught. Wasn't strong enough, not good enough. This is the best I can do. This is all I can do. I'm not big enough to have a real shot with the female. I'll never have kids of my own, but if I help undo the genophage, then I'll matter!"

"What? You mean to tell me that you are letting them use you like a lab rat as part of some messed up guilt-trip, and you don't think you'll ever get in with the ladies? Dude, that is way too much, even for me, and I know a thing or two about guilt trips and getting down on yourself when it comes to luck with a love life," Spider-Man practically snapped. He took a quick breath to calm down though before he went for another angle in his response to the scout's reasoning. "I get you want to help the krogan, and it's great that you want to do something to help cure the genophage, but this isn't the way to do it. Not just because the experiments they're doing here are wrong, but because of what will happen if they succeed."

"What're you talking about?"

"You're right to say that millions of children will be born, but they'll all be Weyrloc children. The minute they've cured themselves of the genophage and built up their forces, they're going to destroy all the other clans."

"But…no. No, they said I was helping Urdnot," the scout protested, hardly believing his ears.

"Well these guys are a criminal gang, and people like that will always pretty things up and make it seem like your getting something good out of the deal in order to further their own goals," Parker reassured him. He had seen such things happen many times over the years since he became Spider-Man after all, and he also knew how to really convince someone who had been dragged into such a mess to break out of the corner they thought they had been backed into. "If you really want to help Urdnot, you need to get back to the camp. Help them fulfill Wrex's goals so that the krogan can truly be strong again. Of course, doing something like that while injured would take someone who's a real badass."

"I can do it," the krogan scout insisted, but he made no moves to show it.

Spidey saw this too, and he knew that it was just going to take one more little push to get him going. "You? Ha! Get real. I said a badass, not some little baby who was whining like a quarian with a tummy-ache."

"I'm standing right here," Tali reminded the web-head.

"Sorry. Just trying to make a point," Spider-Man quickly reassured her.

Apparently, his point was made, because a second later, the scout was getting up on his feet, slowly but steadily, and declared, "I'm no baby, and I can do it! I'm up, and I'm going to the female camp!"

"Now that's more damn like it! You get back there and who them what you're made of, and if anyone's got a problem with it, give a good head-butt," Spider-Man encouraged.

The krogan scout let out a mighty roar and immediately limped out of the cell as fast as he could, much to the amusement of some and the surprise of others. When the scout finally disappeared around the bend, it was one of the surprised who spoke up and broke the silence that had followed. "I can't believe that actually worked," Tali muttered.

"I'm not," Gamora admitted.

"Me neither. After all, there's nothing that can beat Spidey Pep Talk when it comes to getting folks motivated," Kitty nodded in agreement with Gamora.

"I feel like you're confusing my pep talks for the ones that Cap gives," Parker informed the phasing mutant.

"Nope, I'm definitely thinking of yours," Kitty smiled in response. "Now let's go and get Mordin's friend out of here."

Everyone nodded in agreement and returned their attention to their original destination, each fingering their weapon of choice for action the moment that Tali opened the door, since they were expecting guards to be waiting on the other side. It was only a matter of seconds before Tali had gotten the door open, and they all immediately leaped into the room with weapons ready, only to find that there was no need for them. When they came into the room, there was no sign of any guards, and more than that, the only person in the room aside from a possibly dead krogan lying on a lab table was a single salarian in a lab outfit similar to Mordin's working at a large holo-computer. When the salarian in question heard them come in, he cast a small glance over his shoulder before returning to his work, like he was not even bothered by their presence.

At first the others figured that this was someone else, but Mordin quickly shot that down when he proved to recognize the salarian before them. "Maelon? Alive. Unharmed," Mordin whispered as he holstered his gun, prompting the others to do the same with their own weapons before following him further into the room. "No signs of restraint. No evidence of torture. Don't understand."

"For such a smart man, Professor, you always had trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions," Maelon irritably scoffed, finally turning to fully face the group when he did. "How long will it take you to admit that I'm here because I wish to be here?"

Mordin did not seem to get what his old student was implying, but the others quickly caught on. "He wasn't ever kidnapped. He came here voluntarily to cure the genophage," Kasumi said aloud.

"Impossible! Whole team agreed! Project necessary," Mordin insisted, looking from his current teammates to Maelon in hopes that his old student would prove the others wrong in their suspicion.

Unfortunately, Mordin was let down, because Maelon did the exact opposite. "How was I supposed to disagree with the great Doctor Solus? I was your student! I looked up to you!"

"So then the experiments performed here on the prisoners, all the torture and executions were all your doing," Thane questioned.

"We've already got the blood of millions on our hands. If it takes a bit more to put things right, I can deal with that," Maelon countered.

"So you honestly think what you've done here is justified," Kitty demanded, hotly.

"We committed cultural genocide! Nothing I do will ever be justified," Maelon snapped in retort. "The experiments are monstrous…because I was taught to be a monster."

Everyone remained silent for a moment until Spider-Man turned to the professor and asked, "Did you ever do anything like this, Mordin? Any experiments that were as messed up and unethical by any common standards, let alone those of a real doctor?"

"No. Never taught you this, Maelon," Mordin replied, and the others could have sworn that there was a small growl in his voice when he did.

"So your hands are clean! What does it matter if the ground is stained with the blood of millions," Maelon sarcastically questioned. "You taught me that the end justified the means. I will undo what we did, Professor. The only way I know how."

"While I will admit that he does have a point in saying that you seem to hold that belief, there is still the fact that our friend here doesn't really seem to realize that anything that comes from the krogan expanding again will be on his head," Kasumi pointed out to everyone.

"We justified this atrocity by saying the krogan would cause havoc and war if their population recovered, but look at the galaxy! Batarian attacks in the Traverse, geth attacks on the Citadel. Is this a more peaceful universe," Maelon questioned.

"He does have a point there," Gamora muttered in consensus.

"The assault on the Alliance's Eden Prime might never have happened if we had let the krogan recover. We'll never know," Maelon then finished.

"And now we're back to making stretches in logic," Gamora groaned. "How the hell would a krogan population explosion have done anything to stop that?"

"An increased krogan population would have forced the Council to take steps, likely involving colony rights in the Traverse. The turian fleets would be vigilant for any military activity in the area. They might have stopped the geth at Eden Prime."

"Supposition. Impossible to be certain," Mordin argued.

"I think it's more like just grasping at straws," Kitty stated.

"Don't you see? We tried to play god, and we failed! We only made things worse…and I'm going to fix it," Maelon continued to insist.

"Well you're doing a lousy job of it," Spider-Man snapped. He understood wanting to make up for mistakes when he felt that he made them, but what Maelon had done here was going too far. "More importantly, how'd you even access the data on the genophage, and why did you choose to work with Clan Weyrloc when Urdnot's the larger camp?"

"The data was easy to obtain. We all still had clearance. We were heroes. All I had to do was ask. As for the Weyrloc, they were the only clan with both the resources and the commitment. Urdnot Wrex is too soft. He wasn't willing to do the experiments I needed," Maelon explained.

"Gee, I wonder why," Tali drolled, and everyone just knew she was rolling her eyes a little behind her mask.

"Either way, it's Urdnot's loss and Weyrloc's gain. Their clan will be the first to recover from the crime we committed."

Clearly they were not going to get through to Maelon, so that meant they were left with only a few options here. What any of the rest of them wanted did not matter though. In the end, the only opinion that really mattered here was Mordin's. Spider-Man knew this better than anyone, so he was the one who turned to the professor and asked, "Well, Maelon definitely doesn't need rescuing, at least not from the Blood Pack, but we can't let this go on. What do you want to do, Mordin?"

Mordin barely had to think for that long. Seeing what his former student had done had hurt him a great deal, and to hear Maelon use his teaching as a justifications for the atrocities committed here made him feel sick. It made his answer quite easy in fact. "Have to end this."

Apparently, that was not the best thing to say around Maelon at the moment, because when he heard the professor, something made him snap, and he was immediately going for the nearest gun he could reach, rapidly waving it around at the team the minute it was in his hands and armed. "You can't face the truth, can you," Maelon demanded, his voice sounding just as panicked as he appeared to be. "Can't admit that your brilliant mind led you to commit an atrocity!"

Mordin easily took advantage of his former student's panicked state, and instantly rushed in to deliver a hard punch into Maelon, knocking the gun out of the younger salarian's hands, and him back against the walls. Just before Maelon could push himself off the wall, he found himself backing into again when he saw Mordin holding him at gunpoint. "Unacceptable experiments. Unacceptable goals. Won't change. No choice…Have to kill you," Mordin snarled angrily.

The others all reached out to try and stop him, each of them pleading in their own way, but Mordin's anger seemed to prevent him from hearing them, because he did not lower the weapon even slightly. He did pause though when he felt a hand on his arm, and looked to see Spider-Man trying to hold him back. "Don't do this, Mordin. You're a doctor, not a murderer. There is still a chance you can save him from himself, but you can't do that if he's dead. Like I said before, you can do more and fix mistakes in this life. This is your chance to start doing so."

Mordin just remained as he was for a few more minutes before he finally released a heavy sigh and lowered his gun, realizing that his friend was right. "No. Not a murderer," Mordin nodded sadly. "Thank you, Spider-Man." He then holstered his pistol and leveled one last glare at Maelon before saying, "Finished Maelon. Get out. No Weyrloc left. Project over."

"What? But…But where am I supposed to go," Maelon asked.

"Don't care. Try Omega. Can always use another clinic," Mordin coldly replied.

"The krogan didn't deserve what we did to them, Professor. The genophage needs to end," Maelon insisted, clearly hoping that he could get that through to them if he made one last attempt.

"You're right, it does, but not like this," Kitty growled at the young salarian. "Now get out of here, before the professor changes his mind, or before I decide to kill you in his place."

Maelon could not have run out of there any faster when he heard that, and with everything said and done on that end, the all found only one thing left to be concerned about at the moment. "What should we do with the data that your former student acquired in his experiments," Thane asked.

"Could destroy it. Closure, security. Still valuable, though," Mordin admitted. He may not like how the data was acquired, but he was not going to deny that it was useful in its own way.

"You sure about that? It feels a little tainted considering how he got it, if you ask me," Kasumi admitted, scowling a little herself as she studied what was on the screen.

"Right now, victims died for nothing. Keep it, use it, deaths worth something," Mordin pointed out. "Maelon's work could cure genophage. Don't know. Effects on krogan. Effects on galaxy. Too many variables, too many variables!"

"Mordin, stop thinking of all the variables and try thinking of the ones that actually matter the most," Kitty insisted. "The krogan are suffering because of the genophage. Yes, horrible things have happened to them because of their own actions, but they've also lost a great deal because of others too. You erase that data, you'll be robbing them of any hope they may have left. Do you want that?"

Mordin thought about it for a moment. Yes, he felt that a great deal of the krogan's problems were a result of them wasting their own potential, but he could see that part of that was due to the fact that the rest of the galaxy had robbed them of any real hopes they may have had for their future. Looking back after all that had just happened, he could see that he had already stolen a chance for them to regain at least some hope, and he did not want to do that a second time if it caused others to become like Maelon. "No. Not wanted," Mordin finally said.

"Then keep the data. Use it to help them in a way that doesn't need sacrifices like the ones that have been made here," Kitty insisted.

Mordin looked at them all for a minute, and saw that they all agreed with Star-Lady, so he nodded and said, "Point taken, friends. Capturing data, wiping local copy. Still years away from cure. But closer than starting from scratch." A couple of seconds later, Mordin finished working on the console and announced, "Done. Ready to go. Ready to be off Tuchanka. Anywhere else. Maybe somewhere sunny."

"Agreed, but we can't leave just yet. Still gotta wait for Cap and his team after all, so let's get back to the Urdnot camp," Spider-Man told his team, and they all began filing out while he tapped his comm. device to let the super soldier know they were done. While they were leaving, they all agreed that they could only hope that the other team's mission was going a bit more smoothly than theirs had.

* * *

The second round of Grunt's rite was filled with fending off several waves of alien monsters just like the first, except for the fact that there was more than just a bunch of varren this time around. The only difference was the number of monsters that came after them and how quickly they came. Needless to say, Grunt and his krantt were able to handle the challenge rather well, and it actually passed by relatively quickly. The only downside was that it did not seem to provide any opportunity for Grunt to try and test out whether or not he had any additional gamma powers besides his super strength, and the tank-bred had been really eager to try and find out if he did have any ever since Red Hulk had approached him on the topic. Either way, the rite was almost over, and that meant there was still a little time left for Grunt to discover a new power or two in the field, if he had any. They just had to get through one last round, and Grunt's Rite of Passage would be complete, assuming nothing unexpected happened.

When he confirmed that everyone was ready for the final round, Grunt immediately tagged the keystone, and they all readied themselves for whatever action they were about to face while listening to what the recorded krogan voice had to recite this time. When the keystone dropped again, they were sure that they were going to be hit with another wave of monsters, but oddly enough, nothing seemed to happen at all. There were no varren, no oversized bugs, nothing. Just them and the empty field. At least, that was what they all assumed at first, but Grunt and Red Hulk were of a different opinion. The latter because his soldier instincts were finely tuned to a calm-before-the-storm situation after so many years of hunting the Hulk, but the former's reason was the one that had put everyone on a slightly higher alert.

"You feel that? Everything is shaking," Grunt rumbled as he clocked his shotgun.

Everyone was getting more and more tense with how eerily silent the plaza was, save for the wind blowing around them and a few nearby turbines, but then, they felt the ground shake a little. A second later, what appeared to be a number of large tentacles shot up from the ground, just outside the border of the plaza. Captain America's first thought was that these things were likely going to try and attack them, and he immediately switched out his pistol for an assault rifle, keeping said weapon trained on the large tentacles for the moment they made a threatening move. The others who carried guns quickly followed his lead, but the tentacles did not seem to do anything at all aside from sitting there and waving in the wind. After waiting and watching for a few minutes, the more muscle-headed members of the group (those being Drax, Red Hulk, and Grunt) started to lose patience and were prepared to charge in and attack, but just as they were each crouching to launch themselves forward, the tentacles retreated into the ground, and the shaking suddenly became much more violent. Somehow, Grunt was able to follow the shaking to the source just by standing still, and immediately knew that whatever was coming was going to come at them from their right, and he immediately signaled the rest of his teammates. When they all swooped their weapons and/or powers in that direction, it was just in time to see a very massive, ugly, worm-like creature with scythe-like claws on its arms erupt from beneath the surface and hiss loudly at them, causing most of the team to pale at the sight of this beast.

"Spirits, it's a fucking thresher maw," Garrus shouted as he immediately dove for the nearest cover he could find, with Star-Lord and Jack following right behind him.

"A what," Steve asked.

"A thresher maw. A big, dangerous, very deadly monster that spits acid, has been to be able to kill entire battalions, and is currently glaring down at us like we're its next meal," Carol shouted as she took to the skies, her fists already blazing to life with energy.

"In essence, we should take cover right away," Samara suggested as she powered up with some biotics, while raising a shield to prevent some of the maw's acid from hitting her or whichever teammates were closest to her.

"Guess the final round is to either survive or beat this overgrown bug, and considering their reputation, I think we should go with the former, since we've got a better chance of that," Red Hulk offered, firing his large guns at the beast in an attempt to get its attention onto him while Samara covered anyone who had not already taken cover.

Steve knew that if a Hulk, and especially one like Red Hulk was saying that it would be better to not fight and take cover, then it likely meant that whatever they were up against was that dangerous, or just that brutal to fight against. Then again, Ross was now much older now, so there was still a chance that his age might have weakened him a little after all of this time. Whatever the case might have been, he was not about to ignore that advice, especially since he was one of the people on this current team who was unable to either heal really fast, or was able to take more punishment than most normal people, so he quickly joined the others in taking cover. Once he had, he quickly signaled for Garrus to get into a sniper position and start sending out some suppressing fire along with Red Hulk, while Star-Lord joined Captain Marvel for an aerial attack on the massive beast. He then signaled for Samara to continue providing them with whatever biotic protection she could while Jack focused on taking the offensive route with her biotics. It was not until after he had paused to pass his rifle to Drax that Captain America started firing on the thresher maw as well, with the Destroyer joining in with his borrowed gun a second later, despite how little he enjoyed using such weaponry.

Grunt on the other hand, did not dive for cover like the others, but instead, stayed out in the open while firing everything he had at the thresher maw, a savage grin firmly on his face as he rushed towards it. Any cries to stop or wait that his teammates called out to him must have been lost in the din or ignored, because Grunt did not slow down even a little. If anything, he sped up. His blood was boiling in a way it had not before, and he could feel his gamma powers flaring hotter than ever as he glared up at the beast. He could sense that this thresher maw would be the greatest challenge of his rite, and he was going to face it with every ounce of strength he had, no matter what happened. Grunt did not stop until he finally reached the edge of the plaza, where there was nothing left for him to safely charge across, and looking up at the thresher maw, Grunt could swear that its violent hissing almost sounded like laughter, like it was mocking him for his inability to get closer. Grunt was not going to have it though, because he immediately started backing up again.

When he figured he had backed far enough away, he immediately charged forward again, and when he reached the edge of the plaza this time, he did not stop. Instead, he gave a mighty leap that sent him flying right towards the thresher maw, much to everyone's horror. Their horror turned to stunned surprise, because at that moment, they saw Grunt's body light up like a solar flare with what looked like green flames, similar to the ones that Red Hulk would give off whenever he started flaring up, and when Grunt landed on its back, the maw actually let out a shriek of anguish, indicating that it had been injured. Grunt did not stop there though, because he quickly holstered his gun and started pounding down on the beast as hard as he could, sending even more painful bursts through the maw's body, while he just roared in a powerful battle cry.

Down where the team was at, one could see that they had all ceased firing on the thresher maw, and were now all just standing around staring in disbelief at what they were seeing. From where they were, it looked like the thresher maw was spontaneously bursting into green flames on various points of its body, all of which were the same points that Grunt was hammering away at. Frankly, it almost gave off the illusion that the thresher maw was being hit by numerous different fireworks, and the fact that Grunt was actually dealing out such pain any parts of this monster's body aside from its weakest points proved to be both impressive and exciting for them. Drax and Red Hulk even started cheering for the Krogan-Hulk after a couple of minutes, with Jack and Quill joining in soon after. Their cheering quickly came to an end though when Grunt leapt into the thresher maw's mouth, and the beast closed its jaws around him.

Everyone immediately started slowly edging their way back into whatever cover they had before, knowing that the maw was going to be coming for them any minute now, but they paused once again when the thresher maw suddenly stopped hissing at them and suddenly stood straight up, or at least as close to that as it could. A second later, its mouth was suddenly bashed open by a green-flame infused fist, allowing them all to see Grunt had grabbed hold of one of the thresher maw's acid sacks as he bashed against its mouth, and was now pulling as hard as he could to get it out along with him, burning the inside of the thresher maw with the green flames that were now so prominent around his body. As he continued pulling as hard as he could, Grunt finally let out a primal roar while shouting, "I! AM! KROGAN! HULK!"

With that last word came a might pull, and Grunt was soon flying down from the thresher maw back to his teammates, acid sack firmly in his grasp. The Krogan-Hulk touched down with a hard boom that likely caused the entire planet to quake beneath his feet, and it was only made all the more impressive when the thriving thresher maw collapsed down behind him as it let out one final shriek of pain before dying where it had been. Grunt took in the awed gaze of his teammates, looked down at the acid sack in his hand, before tossing it aside, let savage grin cross his face, and commented, "Now that one felt right."

"Yeah, I'd say it must have," was the only response that Steve could think of before everyone else crowded around Grunt, cheering and giving him pats on the back for what he just did, since Grunt's aura of gamma fire had now gone out, meaning it was likely now safe to touch him. Sure, he was still a little warmer to the touch than he usually would have been, but that did not stop the team from singing his praises.

Eventually, Red Hulk walked up to the tank-bred krogan with a small grin of his own, and slapped Grunt on the back as he said, "Not a bad job there, Runt, and it looks like you can run just as hot as I can. Gotta say, I'm now impressed."

Grunt grinned a little at the compliment, but he still felt the need to correct Ross on one thing. "My name is Grunt."

"Yeah, but my nickname for you ain't, and you're stuck with it until the day I die. Deal with it," Ross teased in easy retort.

That drew a small laugh out of Grunt and the rest of the team, but their good mood quickly came to an end when they saw a ship descending from overhead. One would think that it would have persisted, since the first idea after seeing a ship coming towards their location would mean that someone had come to give them a lift back to the Urdnot camp, but the minute that Red Hulk had identified the markings on the vessel to be those of Clan Gatatog, they all quickly grew more suspicious than anything else. There was no way that clan would be there to help them in anyway after the incidents they had with Uvenk, so whatever they were doing here now could not have been very good.

As he studied the ship and its descent, Steve quickly reloaded his pistol and immediately took point at the front of their group alongside Grunt and Red Hulk, feeling it would be best to have them in said position with him when their guests arrived, and slowly led the team forward so that they would be able to meet the Gatatog krogans when they arrived. All the same, Carol just had to give one comment as they got closer. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"I share that sentiment as well, Captain Marvel," Samara nodded in agreement, signifying just how likely this was going to lead to another fight. It appeared that Grunt's rite was definitely not over just yet.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, there you have it. At least half of the Tuchanka adventures are wrapped up. So, we all know that given how she always seems to know a little bit of everything that goes on around the ship in the game, of course Kasumi was going to find out about Mordin's work with the genophage, and it made sense that she would be the one to reveal it to the others when she did. Naturally none of them were going to take it too well, even if they do know about the krogan's reputation, but that was especially so in the case of characters like Kitty, so having that bit of dialogue in there was in fact necessary. Also, I just had to throw in the moment when they rescued the Urdnot scout, and yeah, I totally did it so that we could have Tali's comment on the matter be in there. It is pretty funny you know._**

 ** _Tali: I honestly did not find it that funny._**

 ** _AN: Well, you can't blame others for feeling that way. Anyways..._**

 ** _Grunt: Hold on. Aren't you forgetting something else that's just as important? Namely regarding a certain special guest?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, I was just about to comment on that Grunt. Like I was saying, the inclusion of Red Hulk. Did you guys really think that I wouldn't find a way to get at least one of the Hulks in here after that little reference to Sakaar. That being said, Red Hulk wasn't going to appear here originally. It was really just going to flow similar to how meeting with Wrex had in the game with the obvious differences, and Grunt's rite would indeed still involve him going Hulk Smash on the thresher maw, but after thinking about it, I figured that we might as well have at least one member of the Hulk family in on the fun, if for no other reason than to give something closer to a first-hand account of how things are on Planet Hulk in this new day and age. Yeah, I know Ross probably seems to have mellowed a bit, but it has been a little over a century, so like I said before, people change. And yeah, him working as a diplomat for Sakaar probably seems a little strange at first, but as he had stated, it's mainly in regards to the krogan homeworld, who Planet Hulk has a close friendship with, and when She-Hulk is unavailable for meetings with the more civil version of politics. No offense, Wrex, Grunt, or any other krogan here who's not a bad guy._**

 ** _Wrex &Grunt: None taken._**

 ** _AN: And for those of you who were surprised by that whole mentioning of Hulk having a kid, yeah, that actually happened. His name is Skaar, you probably remember him from "Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.", despite the fact his origin there are much different the comic book version of his character. And just so we're clear, all the Hulks from that series are indeed still around in this story. Those other being A-Bomb and She-Hulk, in case I have not made that obvious enough for everyone._**

 ** _Rocket: I'm not really a fan of how me and Groot got side-lined in this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Well when thinking about Tuchanka, I figured that it wouldn't really be a great environment for Groot or his people, so it made sense to have him stay behind, and while it's clear that you don't really need him around to be awesome Rocket, I know you wouldn't ever leave Groot behind for a variety of reasons, some of the major ones here being that you want to be sure he stays out of trouble and doesn't break anything important on the ship. Besides that, I had it in my head that the team arriving in a Cerberus shuttle would make them send some red flags to Wrex and his people, so that was part of the reason why I wanted Miranda and Jacob to stay behind as well. That, and some of the newer members needed a chance to have a bit of a spotlight on them in the action, even if it's only by a little bit, and they have not really had that outside of conversations on the ship. Don't worry though, we'll see you and Groot doing something on a future loyalty mission._**

 ** _Groot: I am Groot?_**

 ** _AN: Um, what? Oh, hang on. I didn't have my translator activated. [hits control] Okay, say that again?_**

 ** _Groot: I am Groot?_**

 ** _AN: Which loyalty mission will that be? We'll I don't want to give any spoilers, but...Oh, who am I kidding? You guys should be able to figure it out in just a couple of seconds or so. Right after I say, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _After a face-off with Uvenk, the team returns to the Urdnot camp with Grunt's rite now fully completed, and ready to return to the ship. You would think that this would likely mean that their troubles are over, and after speaking with both Mordin and Grunt, Cap assumes the same thing, but it turns out that there are still some things that need to be addressed. This time, it's Jacob and Jack who have an issue that they need to handle, and unfortunately for Steve, the place they need to go are nowhere near one another, so he'll have to entrust some of his team to help whoever he does not go with. What's going to happen, and how will things play out? Find out what will be uncovered, next time._**

 ** _So yeah, next chapter is the conclusion of our Tuchanka adventure, we'll see some of the fallout from the loyalty missions when everyone gets back to the ship, and then we get a start on Jacob and Jack's missions! Exciting huh? Well, hopefully I won't take almost a year to update this again (And I cannot stress enough how I will be trying to avoid that, but it will be difficult given I do have other priorities and stories to update right now), but I promise, I will try and update this again as soon as I am able to. So until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and I should go, fellow true believers!_**


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